Public Safety Signals

Economy affects public safety

2008 Nov 3 Posted by Mark

We have all watched with great interest as the current financial crisis has affected almost every aspect of our lives. From Wall Street to Main Street we have seen layoffs, firings, and a severe drop in the economy. Not only are we seeing people loose their homes, but landlords are loosing their rental properties, and the victims, their tenants, only have a few days notice before being evicted. While I watched this, I began to think of the emergency management or public safety consequences of this breakdown in the economy.

As students, and as those involved in public safety, we need to look at the consequences that affect emergency management in this economic downfall, because they are numerous. As the economy takes a downturn, all forms of government (federal, state, and local) lose tax dollars because there are less tax monies generated. Those same tax dollars that pay for public services have caused documented cuts in local government in police protection (Bohn), fire protection (Rich), emergency management (Rios), public works (Dance) and almost every other tax funded service we enjoy. Unfortunately, when any type of government suffers less tax money, public safety workers tend to be among the first to get cut from the payroll. Some in public safety fail to realize that cuts to staff and equipment directly affect mitigation and preparedness efforts. Public safety managers needs to realize that each cut in public safety directly affects the response within a disaster, and it may directly affect your disaster plan.

We also need to realize that during these hard times, individuals have lost their jobs, their homes and everything else. If they even had a disaster kit originally, these people most likely have eaten their emergency food supply because they have suffered an emergency; they lost their job or home. This translates to an increased urgency in feeding assistance during a disaster. This also begs the question of how many people are homeless, and how overwhelming will these people be to a disaster shelter? These are troubling times and we need to have open discussions! An idea you have may very well save a life, or perhaps even 1,000 lives in a disaster. Please help others by being part of this discussion. Please share with others what you would do differently to prepare for disaster during these hard economic times? What other difficulties could we face that were not mentioned? Help others think through these problems.

Take Care and Stay Safe,
Mark S. Warnick

November 3, 2008 | Filed under: Law enforcement, Public Safety Signals, Public safety, Uncategorized, disaster, drug enforcement, homeland security, online college, online university, police, school safety
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