Public Safety Signals

Our congratulations to Joshua Lindsay, a Capella doctoral learner, on his appointment to program coordinator of the criminal justice program at Piedmont Technical College, Greenwood, South Carolina.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the 2011 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Awards. According to FEMA, “They recognize the innovative practices and achievements of organizations and individuals that work to make our communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to manage any emergency situation”. (http://www.citizencorps.gov/councils/awards/2011/awardwinners2011.shtm).

Do average Americans and disaster management professionals differ in their views about the threats facing the country and from where the threats might come? Is there agreement among emergency management professionals on how the public views the government’s ability to deal with national disasters (http://www.emergencymgmt.com/)?

“FEMA (2011), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will conduct the first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test on November 9, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.”
Learn more about the test at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/eas_info.shtm

To assess our preparedness for another disaster, Capella University partnered with leading national public service and public safety organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the American Society for Public Administration, the Comprehensive Emergency Management Research Foundation, and the FBI National Academy Associates to conduct a nationwide survey of more than 1,000 public service and [...]

The month of October marks the eighth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). For further information, please see the the Homeland Security webpage at http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1158611596104.shtm

Brian M. Allen, of Dubuque, Iowa, a learner in the M.S. in Public Safety program at Capella University, has been included in the Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide Edition for his outstanding contributions and achievements in the field of emergency healthcare on September 20, 2011.

As I shared in a recent post, Capella University partnered with several leading public service organizations on a major survey research project. Our partners included the International Association of Emergency Managers, the American Public Health Association, the American Society for Public Administration, the Comprehensive Emergency Management Research Foundation and the FBI National Academy Associates.

In recognition of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Capella has co-sponsored a major survey research project of first responders, emergency managers, public health officials and others on the front lines of emergency preparedness and response to ask the basic question: How prepared are we for another major terrorist attack or national disaster?

Word spread quickly after yesterday’s 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck near Washington , D.C., and was felt on much of the East Coast.  See the CNN article at http://cnnmon.ie/onS8dF to better appreciate the role and impact of social media. As we in Public Safety have learned, this has very powerful implications for the dissemination of critical [...]