Public Safety Signals

The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic for the novel H1N1 virus.
This is the first flu pandemic is nearly four decades. The good news seems to be that the virus has not mutated and spawned even worst mutations. Yet there are deaths associated with the virus. The CDC continues to recommend commonsensical health and [...]

My father used to tell me “Son, … you can’t cure stupid.”, and the longer I am in this business, the more I have to agree with that statement. You would think the general public would learn from past disasters, but a recent report by Rice University claims that lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina were [...]

I checked in with a colleague recently, James Soukup, who manages a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) and Countywide Emergency Communications Center (9-1-1). I asked him to identify one of the most critical issues facing emergency communications today and he shared the comment below about how our cell phones connect – or don’t – [...]

A busy week is on the horizon starting March 11, with a host of public safety scholar practitioner events. These events span the spectrum for public safety, from criminal justice and law enforcement, to homeland security, security management, emergency management and IT security. I’m proud that several of my faculty colleagues will be presenting at [...]

I was astonished when a nearby city of 60,000 decided not to hire their first emergency manager, sighting the economy as the reason. In an effort to convince the city manager he was making a mistake, I prepared a 30 page preliminary hazard analysis for this city manager. Unfortunately, I did not have enough unfettered [...]

A 2009 report released yesterday by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the country’s critical infrastructure a cumulative grade of “D”. Critical infrastructure (CI) includes things like roads, bridges, dams, water and waste treatment plants, energy and aviation, to name just a few of the areas receiving very low marks.
This ASCE report also [...]

As the interdisciplinary nature of public safety continues to grow and mature I am seeing further development of academic honor societies developing as well. Capella has had a chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma (National Criminal Justice Honor Society) for a couple of years now. Jeff Godwin is the chapter president (please contact him with any [...]

Public safety and public service took center stage for a worldwide audience last week as the 44th President of the United States was inaugurated. It was reported that four times the normal security was on hand for the event witnessed by several million citizens. During the President’s speech he spoke eloquently about the country’s [...]

We are just hours away from inaugurating a new President. While this inauguration will be perhaps the most historical ever, we must realize that the decisions made by President Obama will affect public safety. How much public safety will be affected is not known and most likely won’t be known for at last a year.
In [...]

Capella University Public Safety partners with FBINAA
I had the unique honor and pleasure of attending a reception with the FBI’s National Alumni Associates (FBINAA) at the IACP in San Diego last month.
The FBINAA works diligently with partner schools so that their members can continue their education and work toward their next degree. We have [...]