President Barack Obama will combine the staffs of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council, with all 240 employees now reporting to national security adviser James Jones. The move aims to reduce overlapping bureaucracies, though it stops short of the full merger recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Obama will preserve the HSC, which [...]
The question from the 1984 Ghostbusters film — “Who ya gonna call?” — is a loaded one around here. One of my jobs as the director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Directorate for Science and Technology is to ensure that our heroes — emergency responders — [...]
President Obama has nominated Florida’s emergency manager to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, turning to a Republican with experience in natural disasters to help restore credibility to an agency whose reputation was badly damaged by its response to Hurricane Katrina. (NY Times)
What kinds of tools do first responders need to deal with emergencies? And how can improvements in science and technology help police and firefighters to do their jobs? One branch of the Department of Homeland Security is out on the West Coast today, wrapping up a three-day conference to assess the needs of first responders.
Since [...]
The struggle to balance the city’s budget continues. This time firefighters are speaking out. WAVE 3’s Shayla Reaves has the latest.
Louisville’s firefighters have heard the numbers but they’re not convinced the city is really down $20 million. We asked a Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Mayor’s office, about the budget hole and she confirmed [...]
With the release of the Illinois State Police 2007 crime rate report, Streator Police Chief Jeff Anderson credited citizens’ and patrol officers’ proactive attitude being the major contributors to the city’s 12 percent crime rate decrease.
“In the last couple years, we’ve patrolled a little better and the public has become more involved,” Anderson told The [...]
Ambulance services across the UK hold records of more than 8,500 households who have a history of violence against paramedics, the BBC has learned.
Staff called to emergencies at these addresses are advised to wait for police before entering the premises.
The Patients Association says records must be “absolutely accurate” or “patient safety may be in danger”. [...]
The Hinsdale fire department is made up of mostly volunteer first responders, but recently, the chief has noticed a downward trend in his numbers.
“As far as actual firefighters, we’re still down like everyone else is,” said Hinsdale Fire Chief Larry Turner.
He says the number of people willing to donate their time as volunteer firefighters is [...]
“The Defense Department on Friday rejected the conclusion in a congressionally chartered commission’s report that there is an “appalling gap” in the nation’s ability to respond to nuclear, chemical or biological attack.” (Navy Times)
“Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis lies in wait with his $57,000 atomic absorption spectrometer. Should a large group of people mysteriously fall dead in Columbus, the spectrometer would tell him if a chemical agent was to blame. It’s part of a network of hundreds of leaders and first responders who are on call if all [...]