Critical Releases in Homeland Security: March 2, 2016
Every two weeks, the HSDL identifies a brief, targeted collection of recently released documents of particular interest or potential importance. We post the collection on the site and email it to subscribers. Click here to subscribe. (You must have an individual account in order to subscribe.)
5 featured resources updated Mar 2, 2016
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Disaster Response: FEMA Has Made Progress Implementing Key Programs, but Opportunities for Improvement Exist, Report to Congressional Requesters
"In a disaster requiring a federal
response, the Department of
Homeland Security's FEMA provides
various response resources to state,
local, and tribal governments. Such
assistance can include deploying
US&R [Urban Search and Rescue] teams to help locate survivors
and human remains, IMAT [Incident Management Assistance Teams] teams to
help coordinate and provide federal
support, and evacuation assistance,
when applicable.
GAO [Government Accountability Office] was asked to review aspects of
FEMA's disaster response programs.
Specifically, this report addresses
FEMA's efforts to implement, assess,
and improve selected disaster
response programs for urban search
and rescue, incident management, and
evacuation tracking. GAO reviewed
documentation such as policies,
procedures, after action reports, and
readiness assessments for these
programs and deployments to select
disasters for fiscal years 2010 through
2014-capturing pre and post
Hurricane Sandy disasters. GAO also
interviewed FEMA and state officials,
and a nongeneralizable sample of nine
US&R task forces to gain insights into
FEMA's efforts. GAO recommends that FEMA develop
a plan to prioritize and fund the
replacement of US&R task force
equipment; a plan to ensure that IMAT
teams receive required training, and a
workforce strategy for retention of
IMAT staff; and document, track, and
analyze recommendations and lessons
learned from disaster deployments.
DHS concurred with the
recommendations and described plans
to implement them."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2016-02
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Ideal Police Oversight and Review: The Next Piece of the Community Policing Puzzle
From the thesis abstract: "There has been independent oversight of law enforcement complaints for over a hundred years in the United States, but recent cases of perceived excessive use of force by law enforcement officers have thrust independent oversight into the national forefront. This thesis set out to discover frameworks, operation methods, and responsibilities of independent oversight of cases involving police excessive use of force by researching the current structures and practices of oversight bodies across America--how they differ from each other, how they are successful--and determining whether there should be a national standard. This research includes oversight boards from small, medium, and large American municipalities with law enforcement agencies whose ethnic diversity is not reflective of their communities. Through the use of a request for information, 12 independent oversight boards were examined. The research suggests there is no consistency across independent oversight boards, no standard for independent oversight board frameworks, and no tracking of their efficiency toward organizational or academically suggested goals. Nor is there a central repository where lessons learned and best practices can be catalogued and distributed. This thesis provides recommendations for future research on independent oversight boards."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.); Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Sajor, Antonio, Jr.
2015-12
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