Safety: Protecting Communities From Dangers & Risks
Catherine L. Feinman
November 24, 2021
On 27 June 2017, the Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management (UASEM), the first high school in the United States dedicated to the field, graduated its first cohort of students. Over the past four years, UASEM has engaged students in exploring careers in first response through trips to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) training headquarters, logistics at the New York City Emergency Management Emergency Operations Center, and internships in emergency management organizations across the region.
The Dangers of Not Protecting the “3Ps” During Events
Kole (KC) Campbell
November 24, 2021
On 5 November 2021, an apparent crowd crush at the Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas resulted in ten deaths and untold injuries. While the criminal investigation is in its early stages at the time of this article, the music festival undoubtably represents some failures of safety and security planning and execution.
Cassandra’s Curse: Disasters Revisited
Rodney Andreasen
November 17, 2021
The study of Greek mythology can provide examples of failure to heed the call of emergency management specialists and experts. The story of Cassandra is an illustration of this warning. To win her favor, the Greek god Apollo gave her power to predict the future. However, once she received the gift, she refused further advances, angering Apollo. In retaliation, he cursed her with an additional power of an inability to convince anyone the predictions were true. For emergency managers and other related agencies, Cassandra has come to represent the challenges faced when trying to convince others that predicted events will happen.
Another Opportunity to Prepare for Quarantines
Robert C. Hutchinson
November 10, 2021
An article published in 2013 discussed the considerable challenges of quarantine order implementation and enforcement during a future pandemic or other serious threats to public health. That discussion was after the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), but before the re-emergence of the Ebola virus in West Africa. The level of preparedness for the rapid execution of federal quarantines has not greatly improved since 2013. The nation’s readiness may have even diminished during the current pandemic due to social, political, and organizational discord.
Human-Machine Teaming: A Vision of Future Law Enforcement
Kristin Cook, Grant Tietje and Corey Fallon
November 3, 2021
Neither human nor robot, a digital police officer (D-PO) is a vision in machine teammates: an
artificial intelligence-based partner that can be reached through multiple devices including the patrol
car’s on-board computer and officers’ mobile devices. A D-PO has access to multiple data sources
including live security camera feeds and criminal databases as well as other D-POs assigned to officers.
Scientists and engineers, like those at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are working in the
field of human-machine teaming to bridge the gap between today’s tools and the machine teammates of the
future.
