PUBLIC SAFETY AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Catalog description

This course focuses on the management and leadership of ensuring citizen safety and identifying, preventing, controlling, and responding to crisis situations. We explore establishing and equipping a crisis management team to ensure successful contingency planning. Students identify and analyze potential risks or situations that may precipitate a crisis or emergency and learn approaches on how to manage the response to such incidents. The role of communication, making instant and effective decisions, and community engagement is also covered. We will assess social and individual behaviors that serve as a foundation for understanding how people act in disasters, how behavioral change may save lives and property and how risks are or should be communicated at every stage. Students will develop, analyze, and identify the weaknesses in a crisis management plan. We conclude by addressing damage control, restoring confidence in the government entity, and regaining or maintaining citizen trust and confidence.