By James McLaughlin

When I joined the fire service at the age of 21, I had two goals. My first goal was to provide at least 30 years of quality service. My second goal was to pursue training and education opportunities and seek to rise in the ranks within the department.

By Leischen Stelter

It feels like every day I read about another public safety consolidation effort. A story that made its way into my inbox today is about Bay City, Mich. city commission getting ready to discuss a plan to consolidate and cross-train police and firefighters.

By Leischen Stelter It feels like every day I read about another public safety consolidation effort. A story that…

Public safety agencies and its employees in California are breathing a little easier after Governor Jerry Brown announced that he had revised the state budget last week to protect funding for public safety (and education), according to this article.

By Leischen Stelter

Deputy Chief Steve Prziborowski with the Santa Clara County, Calif. Fire Department knew early in his career that he wanted to become a chief officer.But he was also very realistic about what it would take to achieve that dream. Prziborowski knew it would be a life-long journey to get the education and training he would need to work his way up the ranks.

Fire services are still suffering from the down economy, but there were a few glimmers of improvement discussed during the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s Annual National Fire & Emergency Services Dinner & Seminars on April 25. During a session titled, “Responding to the Call During the Economic Downturn,” Chief Mark Light from the International Association of Fire Chiefs reported that business was better for many of its corporate partners.

By Dave Malone

When the Washington D.C. Council decided to give themselves a 2.2 percent cost-of-living raise this year, as reported in The Washington Examiner, law enforcement and fire service representatives were none too pleased.

The Microsoft Worldwide Public Safety Symposium, held at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash. on March 13-15, was an opportunity to hear some of the biggest challenges facing public safety agencies today. One of the panel sessions focused on the challenges of public safety agencies effectively using social media platforms to monitor, as well as communicate with, the public.

By James McLaughlin

When I attended the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Kennedy School at Harvard in July 2010 there was a statement made by the program chair that I will never forget, which was “true leadership challenges the status quo.”