Public Safety Certificate
The program is intended as a 2 to 4 semester program (for those attending part-time) during which the student will:
Take 3 of the courses below:
PA 553 Public Safety Administration - This course examines traditional managerial principles and considers their applicability and the necessary reforms that have resulted from changing technology and strategies in the post 9/11 era. It will look at the proactive roles of public safety in the community.
PA 539 Local Government Management - The objective of this course is to introduce the student to the administrative, political and fiscal challenges encountered in local government management. An emphasis will be placed on the study of professionally administered municipalities and counties highlighting leadership, professional ethics, service delivery, manager/council relationships as well as intergovernmental relations.
PA 536 Strategy and Structure: Homeland Security - The course introduces the student to the National Strategy for Homeland Strategy and describes the structure under which it was originally designed, the events that have affected the original concept and the various changes that it has undergone since the events of 9/11/2001. The student will become intimately acquainted with the key legal parameters affecting HS and the governmental components involved in HS operations, enforcement and intelligence. An emphasis on the overall integration of State, local, tribal and private sectors will enable the student to apply the tenets of HS to their own individual situations. Other topics will include an understanding of how to conduct Threat Assessments as well as a cursory understanding of the Intelligence Cycle. (3-0-3)
PA 537 Crisis Management/Homeland Security - This course is taught by experts from various disciplines, it provides a basic overview of homeland security including a brief history of terrorism. Specifically, the course is intended to provide the audience issues related to homeland security, awareness on the types of threats (damage to buildings, processing plants, public facilities, etc.) and the type of risks involved. Other relevant aspects include types of weapons used by modern terrorists; how one goes about estimating risk and threat to a facility; how buildings and people respond when subjected to blast and fires; the role of search and rescue operations; weapon effects; building security; facility analysis to identify vulnerable areas given a threat; procedures for minimizing vulnerability; effective fire safety; contingency plans, etc. At the conclusion of this course the student will know how to estimate the risk and threat to a given facility, prepare a basic security audit; develop a basic contingency plan, develop a passive/active security system for a given facility and develop post event search and rescue operations.
PA 538 Information Systems Security/Cyber-crime - This course provides an in depth review of topics in cyber-crime issues in the public safety field. It includes issues involved with policy and legal issues and tools used for network security.
PA 540 Alternative Dispute Resolution - This course will introduce you to the formally accepted varieties of resolving disputes without going to court: negotiation, mediation, fact-finding, mini-trials, court sponsored settlement procedures, and arbitration. We will focus on process: what each term means; how the different processes work and compare with one another; when they can and cannot be used more effectively and how; and what considerations, techniques and/or factors make each kind of process work best. This is a survey course to give a general idea of the different kinds of alternative dispute resolution methods. Although simulations are used it is not equivalent to a full skills training program. Note: This course is also applicable to the nonprofit sector.
PA 588 Incident Response, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity - In this course, students learn to design and manage key business information security functions including incident response plans and incident response teams; disaster recovery plans; business continuity plans; and crisis management teams and plans. Reporting, response planning and budgeting are all addressed. Students working in teams will prepare an incident response, disaster recovery, business continuity, or crisis management plan for a real world organization, such as a business or a governmental body or agency.
Take 1 MPA course
Recommended is PA 502, Complex Organizations
With permission from the Academic Director the student may take another course of the student's choosing.
Certificate students may have an opportunity to participate in public safety management research, which may focus on service delivery or policy as it relates to the intersection between emergency management and other public and private sectors.
