What Criminal Justice Jobs are in Emergency Planning?

Criminal justice jobs in emergency planning aren’t just limited to public service and law enforcement. Emergency planning and management professionals work in different industries to provide guidelines, contingency support and direction during disasters, according to FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute.

Assistant Police Chief

Assistant police chiefs are senior law enforcement professionals who work closely with personnel and the public to manage operational affairs. They provide support for specific functions, such as emergency planning, leadership and administration. They typically deal with local, temporary emergencies. When it comes to emergency planning, they administer a variety of safety and training programs for law enforcement and emergency response personnel. They ensure that employees meet departmental, state and federal training requirements for emergency response training. They cultivate and maintain partnerships and relationships with public agencies and private organizations.

Emergency Response Administrator

Most emergency response administrators are employed by state or federal agencies. The majority of their time is spent on reviewing policies, updating guidelines and managing complex budgets. They oversee the management of funding requests for operations and personnel in accordance with established regulations. They forecast and control expenditures by projecting needs, allocating funds, justifying requests and adjusting priorities. A healthy portion of their time is spent planning and implementing objectives by conducting team meetings, collaborating with departmental heads and testing emergency response systems and technologies.

911 Operations Supervisor

In every state, 911 call centers are managed by emergency response professionals. Every day, 911 operations supervisors make critical decisions regarding medical and life threatening situations. Every major incident requires action to be taken according to established state guidelines. However, these supervisors also prepare budgets, monitor financial activities and provide regular status updates. Being a 911 operator is a stressful and demanding job, so there is a high level of employee turnover. Because of this, 911 operations supervisors spend a large portion of time hiring and interviewing job candidates. These supervisors act as central communication points of contact for their local areas.

Emergency Manager

Emergency managers work in military, law enforcement and emergency response organizations. Emergency managers execute emergency planning and management programs. They teach disaster and emergency preparedness classes for administrative staff and incident response professionals. Some design new training courses to effectively respond to new threats and disasters. Emergency managers coordinate all response and recovery preparation activities, such as facilities and equipment inspections. Thus, they often travel to fire and police stations as well as emergency management centers. They are accountable for the functional and operational capacities of equipment and processes during emergency situations. After every incident, they facilitate debriefing meetings that result in official action reports.

Disaster Program Manager

These emergency planning professionals are often employed by private organizations, such as production facilities, engineering firms and energy-based organizations like nuclear and electrical plants. They are responsible for maintaining disaster services programs in the local areas. They lead a limited team of safety professionals who implement disaster preparedness and response training programs for employees. They build and maintain positive partnerships with local government agencies and personnel. In the rare event of an emergency, they manage disaster response services through leadership and remote management.

Related Resource: Become a Corrections Officer

Emergency planners are public safety professionals who maintain critical response infrastructures. Criminal justice jobs in emergency planning are available to graduates who have degrees in emergency management.