Department of Public Safety

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Department of Public Safety is a state or local government umbrella agency in the United States which serves to assist the certain agencies in their services by providing administrative, financial, and technical services and support for core public safety functions for some or all of the following:

Fire and EMS services - includes fire prevention and suppression, all types of rescue services and HAZMAT response.
Police services - including crime prevention, suppression and investigation, uniformed patrol and response, and operates the Crimestoppers Program.
Emergency communications - operates the public interface emergency communications telephone system by providing the 9-1-1 and Enhanced 911 emergency telephone numbers.
OES or Office of Emergency Services - plans for and operates the Emergency Operations Center during calamities, disasters, special events and emergencies.
Inspections - usually building safety, which includes construction, electrical et al.
Animal control - This category could also include wildlife officers, game wardens and dog catchers.

In other countries and states, an equivalent might be known as the Ministry of the Interior or Department of Emergency Services. There is no Department of Public Safety at the federal level of the United States, but the closest equivalent is the United States Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for federal emergency services via Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States or (FEMA).

1 State level
- 1.1 List of state Departments of Public Safety
2 Local level
- 2.1 List of cities with Departments of Public Safety with fully cross-trained personnel
3 See also
4 References

[edit] State level

In state governments in the United States, the DPS is usually a law enforcement agency synonymous with the state police. At local and special district levels, they may be all-encompassing. Examples of states having these include Texas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

[edit] List of state Departments of Public Safety

[edit] Local level

Most local jurisdictions (cities and counties) have the umbrella configuration described above, in which the DPS is simply a joint administration of several distinct agencies. They may share administrative support staff and back-office functions, but sworn personnel remain specialized and have particular responsibilities (that is, the police continue to arrest people and the firefighters put out fires). The DPS of Cobb County, Georgia is one example.

However, a minority of jurisdictions have Departments of Public Safety which have primary and direct responsibility for all emergencies. In these unusual organizations, all full-time sworn personnel are cross-trained as police officers, firefighters and/or EMT's, and can respond to emergencies in any capacity. Although it is more expensive to hire, train and retain such personnel, they have a clear advantage in terms of their flexibility. They can respond on their own to any number of rapidly evolving situations rather than waiting for the arrival of other specialized personnel.<ref>Paul Harlow, "Glencoe's public safety services," Public Management 76, no. 6 (June 1994): 25-27.</ref>

This configuration was widely popular in the 1970s and 1980s throughout the United States, but has since gone out of style because relatively few cities have been able to execute it successfully.

[edit] List of cities with Departments of Public Safety with fully cross-trained personnel

- (a) A law passed in the State of Illinois recently forced Bensenville to give up its Public Safety program. The Bill, HB1368 (now Public Act 094-0720) stated in its synopsis "Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that a non-home rule municipality shall not assign a fireman to perform police duties or a policeman to perform firefighting duties. Prohibits a non-home rule municipality from administering fire and police department work assignments in a manner inconsistent with this requirement." Bensenville was the only municipality in Illinois to be affected. The Village of Bensenville believes this bill is in retaliation to Bensenville's long opposition to O'Hare Airport expansion, as the sponsors of the bill were Democrats from the City of Chicago, the main proponents of expansion.