Homeland Security & Public Safety
Public Safety
In the multi-jurisdictional metropolitan Washington region, ensuring safe communities for residents and visitors requires coordination across various agencies on a wide range of issues, including planning, response, resource sharing, and crime prevention. Throughout its history, COG has championed this coordination, such as its ongoing support of regional mutual aid agreements. These agreements allow police, fire, and other emergency resources to be shared across jurisdictional borders and have aided regional responses from the 1968 civil disturbances following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to presidential inaugurations.
Additionally, COG brings together the region’s various public safety disciplines, including fire and emergency medical services (EMS), law enforcement, emergency management, health, public affairs, and information technology to address public safety issues at the regional scale, ranging from gangs to drunk driving to fire safety to emergency communication.
News & Multimedia
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News
January 18, 2017
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Greater Washington Board of Trade partnered to host a free briefing on January 12, featuring top...
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News
January 5, 2017
Scott Boggs, a highly respected public safety expert and regional leader, has been named Managing Director of Homeland Security and Public Safety for COG.
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News
December 20, 2016
COG’s Ronald F. Kirby Award for Collaborative Leadership was presented to two regional leaders, the District of Columbia's Homeland Security and Emergency...
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News
November 17, 2016
Fairfax County Public Safety Communications Director Stephen Souder, who recently retired after more than 60 years of public safety service in the metropolitan...