In February of 1998 Platte County Emergency Management and the Platte County Sheriff's Office Communications Center were combined to form the Platte County Sheriff's Office Emergency Services Unit (later re-designated as a division in November, 1999). The Emergency Services Division of the Platte County Sheriff's Office is responsible for the emergency management mission within Platte County. On February 20, 2003 county commission order #18-03 was issued establishing the Platte County Emergency Management Organization. A natural fit, this merger welded centralized communications, the core support center for E.M. incidents, with the established response/support mechanisms required to address such issues.

Since the development of the Emergency Services Division, an ongoing analysis of the function and responsibilities of Platte County Emergency Management is on going. The Emergency Management Cycle consists of 4 (four) phases: Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery. Although a community may be experiencing one or more of these phases at any given time, there are specific planning, response, education and funding mechanisms tied to each phase.

• Mitigation consists of determining those hazards a community faces and applying available means and resources to lessen or eliminate the hazard and associated impact.
• Preparedness is planning, training and educating response mechanisms to address hazards that 1) cannot be mitigated or, 2) are still present to some degree after the application of available mitigation measures.
• The Response Phase is of course the application of resources during or immediately after an incident.
• The Recovery Phase consists of getting the community back on line as quickly as possible once it has been impacted by an incident.

These relationships result from the necessary operational integration of the various responder agencies. In addition, effective relationships outside of the first responder community with the various municipalities within and around Platte County are being produced and maintained. These relationships are essential to adequately manage resources and incidents impacting multiple jurisdictions. Community and/or volunteer organizations also provide invaluable support and resources needed to combat the effects of an emergency or disaster as well. Effective partnerships with these agencies and organizations, such as the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and Northland Amateur Radio Emergency Services (A.R.E.S.) are the key to success. Another program started in 2003 is the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) which educates the citizens on how to prepare and sustain on your own for a short time during and event. Local business resources / organizations also often have the ability to provide expertise and resources to offset the effects of an incident. As a result, effective working relationships with virtually every community segment are essential to the success of the emergency management mission. Emergency management may need to rely heavily on these external resources and expertise should a disaster or large-scale emergency impact our community. In order to facilitate an effective and efficient use of these various resources, these various entities must be educated, integrated and participate in the four-phase of emergency management.

An essential means of developing and promoting these necessary emergency management components is community-wide education about the program mission. Platte County emergency management is prepared to take the lead in developing, educating and maintaining these resources, these resources will most likely be severely limited or unavailable in time of need.

The desire for a more proactive, balanced approach within the emergency services division, and the development of a diverse set of educational programs are identified as goals for Emergency Management.

The educational aspect of emergency management remains intrinsic to the effectiveness, preparedness and quality of the Platte County program. A variety of concepts, materials and direction should be provided to personnel on all public/private levels who could potentially be involved in emergency management within Platte County.

The Platte County Sheriff's Office remains committed to provide the citizens of our county a professional, effective and successful program that is capable of meeting the emergency management needs of our community.

Below are links to several public/private service agencies and emergency management programs/interests in the area of emergency management.

Prepare KC - Emergency Preparedness
American Red Cross
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
KC Regional Terrorism Early Warning Group
MARC Local Emergency Planning Committee
MEMC Metropolitan Emergency Management Committee
National Weather Service (Kansas City/Pleasant Hill, Mo. location)
State Emergency Management Agency (Missouri)
The Salvation Army
The Tornado Project Online!
How to Prepare for a Tornado
USGS National Earthquake Information Center
WebEOC