Critical Releases in Homeland Security: April 11, 2018

From the Introduction: "This Strategic Plan outlines the goals and objectives that FEMA must implement to strengthen the Agency and our mission. It will build upon the foundation established by FEMA's previous two Strategic Plans. The 2011- 2014 plan focused on building a whole community inclusive approach to emergency management - enabling community leaders to act when needed. The 2014-2018 plan built on that idea by institutionalizing whole community efforts to position FEMA and its partners to improve outcomes for disaster survivors and communities. The 2018-2022 Strategic Plan will mobilize that whole community to build a culture of preparedness, ready the Nation for catastrophic disasters, and reduce the complexity of FEMA."

"This report encompasses a seven-year study from 2010-2016 that analyzed 1,016 line-of-duty deaths. Specifically, the analysis focused on cases that involved a dispatched call for service and the common circumstances in those fatal incidents. Armed with this information, researchers were tasked with determining if any commonalities existed that could be utilized as learning tools to prevent future deadly calls or fatal encounters. The research team continued their previous analysis of fatal encounters that were the result of officers taking self-initiated action, such as making a traffic stop or stopping a suspicious person. The research team analyzed those encounters and provided two more years of case data to enhance the information gathered in the 2016 report. The report offers an analysis of soft body armor usage and seatbelt usage in automobile crashes across seven years. Identifying contemporary issues, NLEOMF [National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund] researchers studied cases that were deemed to be an ambush or ambush-style shooting on officers and have furnished an analysis of those cases with a statistical breakdown by year. The key findings from this report revealed that calls related to domestic disputes and domestic-related incidents represented the highest number of fatal types of calls for service and were also the underlying cause of law enforcement fatalities for several other calls for service."

"Between January and December 2017, 28 incidents of mass attacks, during which three or more persons were harmed, were carried out in public places within the United States (see map for locations). These acts violated the safety of the places we work, learn, shop, relax, and otherwise conduct our day-to-day lives. The resulting loss of 147 lives and injury to nearly 700 others had a devastating impact on our nation as a whole. As the uncertainty they caused continues to ripple through our communities, those charged with ensuring public safety strive to identify methods to prevent these types of attacks. To aid in these efforts, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) examined these 28 incidents, to identify key themes for enhancing threat assessment and investigative practices."