For answers to these questions and much more, please see the Emergency Management article “Survey Shows Disconnect Between Professional, Citizen Views of Terrorism” (article), which includes a recent survey (9/11 Opinion Survey), compiled by the disaster safety communications firm Cote & D’Ambrosio.

Please share your thoughts and opinions. We’d like to know what YOU think.

We wanted to hear directly from those who would be on the front lines of the next crisis. The results indicated that 92% of public service professionals believe that collaboration in the emergency preparedness community has improved 10 years after 9/11.

Capella faculty shared the results of our 10 Years Later survey with national emergency management leaders on Sept. 13 in New York City. Panelist seen in these videos include Joseph Pascarella, a retired NYPD Captain and Dan Martin, current President of CEMR Foundation are both Capella faculty members.

Commitment to Multidisciplinary Research and Education

Capella University is committed to leading the way in research on emergency preparedness; this survey has been a first step. The School of Public Service Leadership at Capella brings together thought leaders throughout the broad field of public service, providing outstanding multidisciplinary focused education, essential to public service leaders for the 21^st century.

See video footage of the panel discussion: http://www.capella.edu/video/PSL_switcher.asp

More than 1,000 public service / public safety professionals completed the survey. If you haven’t had an opportunity to do so, I highly recommend reviewing the results. I think you’ll find them quite interesting and thought provoking.

http://www.capella.edu/inc/pdf/9-11_10YrsLaterSurveyReport.pdf

I also recommend reading an article authored by three of the EM Summit panelists, published today in HS Today.US, titled, “Ten years later: According to the Experts, We’re not there yet”

http://www.hstoday.us/blogs/guest-commentaries/blog/ten-years-later-according-to-the-experts-were-not-there-yet/5a773c20daccdf7b6feea2ca7e7e97ff.html

We partnered with several other leading public service organizations on the survey, including 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. More than 1,000 public service / public safety professionals completed the survey, and we think you’ll find the results quite interesting.

Additionally, 88% believe that funds are allocated according to what’s best for politicians, not what’s best for emergency preparedness and 58% of respondents have seen their budgets decrease over the last two years. Additional key findings reveal their views on what specifically has and has not improved on issues like collaboration, training and funding, as well as what challenges they are facing that affect their ability to prepare for and respond to a major emergency.

Capella to share survey results at Emergency Management Summit in New York on 9/13

The Emergency Management Summit meets annually to assess risks and articulate practical approaches to strategies for planning, response and recovery.  Capella will be hosting a panel discussion around the national preparedness survey results at the Summit in New York City on September 13^th. Panelists include Eddie Hicks, USA President of IAEM, Erik Bergrud, ASPA President, Linda Landesman from APHA, Dan Martin from the CEMR Network and Joseph Pascarella, an NYPD Captain.

**The survey can also be found on the main page of our visitor’s center and each public safety specialization page as well as the PSL site.  We will have video footage from the EM Summit that will be added on the PSL site to go with the report.**

            Following those events, President Bush began a new arm of the federal government called the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS presented a framework that assists us to better prepare our country, a road map if you will. With this roadmap, we all have a specific part of which we must take responsibility to ensure we get to the correct destination.

            On October 9, 2007, the President issued an updated National Strategy for
Homeland Security.  This strategy serves to guide, organize, and unify our nation’s
homeland security efforts. As I read through this strategy, I realized it was a true working strategy. I encourage each and every person involved (or wanting to be involved) in public safety to read and understand every bit of this strategy. This is a wonderful basis to help make a great nation even stronger.

Often times those of us in public safety forget that there are others involved in different disciplines of Homeland Security. We become so focused on our own jobs that we begin to think that our specific area is the only one that makes a difference. We couldn’t be more wrong!

Homeland Security is more like a spider web rather than a few cobwebs. We must remember that law enforcement, both international and national will never be able to catch every terrorist and we must prepare for those incidents. We must also realize that in response there is no way for fire, emergency management and EMS to be completely prepared for every scenario. Anything can happen at anytime. We need to remember we are all part of that web, and the strength of that web is increased by better integration with other facets of public safety.

The most important thing we need to remember is a spirit of cooperation. I encourage each of you to always reach out in cooperation as you move forward in your public safety career, long before a disaster dictates that cooperation. Look beyond what your assigned job is and reach out to those that have those other public safety jobs. The real winner will be the public! After all, isn’t that what we got into this game for?

As always, stay safe,

Mark S. Warnick

In 2007, Dr. Mosser traveled to Israel to attend the Executive Counter-Terrorism Course at the Institute Counter Terrorism, Herzliya, Israel. While in Israel, she meet with senior foreign officials and others to discuss counter terrorism methods to prevent suicide bombings.

Dr. Mosser has served in numerous crisis operations assignments and assisted in investigations such as PAN AM 103 and the first World Trade Center bombing. Most note worthy was her providing critical intelligence to security agencies resulting in the capture of five terrorist’s and her participated in counterintelligence investigations to detect and identify individuals and groups conducting espionage and terrorism against the U.S., which resulted in the location and capture of a spy.

Dr. Mosser has lectured on global perspectives of terrorism and emergency preparedness at; FEMA Higher Ed Conference in 2008, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Cape Fear Community College, and numerous local radio and television and continues to provide antiterrorism, security, and emergency preparedness and respond training for law enforcement officers and first responder’s worldwide. Dr. Marian Mosser was the region 4 coordinator for the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management for the last year.

Marian should be joining us at Public Safety Signals in the near future. Please join me in welcoming Marian to our discussions of current and important issues to public safety.