Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a powerful agency in the U.S. government and is empowered to transform the country in the police state during times of actual crisis. Among its powers shall include the act of suspending laws, transfer populations from one place to another, carry-out warrantless arrests and detain citizens even in the absence of trial, seize properties, transportation systems and food supplies. FEMA has the power to suspend the Constitution and to establish emergency response plan in for every state or locality in times of emergency or crisis (Williams, 2007, p. 206).
The limitation placed on FEMA by Congress is only with regard to the manner how emergency funds obtained by the agency are expelled. However, FEMA officials countered that agency did not place restrictions on the amounts that the states can request for each project because the agency believed that the limitation will defeat the purpose of obtaining the best ideas for the project.
FEMA interacts with state and local emergency management agencies by determination of the organizational functions of the agency and the delegation of the preparedness function to other agencies including the Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection, the Chief Medical Officer of the DHS, Office of the Cyber Security and Telecommunications, U.S. Fire Administration, the Office of the National Capital Region Coordination and elements of Office of the State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness (Burns, 2007). There must be a collaboration between the between State and local emergency entities in the aspect of emergency planning and management by formulating emergency management strategies during events such as natural calamities, like hurricanes or man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks.
As part of the local police, it shall be the duty of our department to take necessary precautions that will enable the evacuation and transfer of the victims before and after these events take place. Some of the precautionary measures are by giving the people their basic needs that will aid in the prevention injury and death during the process of disaster management recovery.
During the time of Hurricane Katrina aftermath, FEMA has been criticized for the poor implementation of its programs concerning the rescue and retrieval operations due to lack of organizational arrangements between FEMA and its parent, the Department of Homeland Security or the DHS (Burns, 2007). Hence, the government has decided to overhaul the organizational functions and delegation of powers to other agencies. Learning from these past mistakes, the lack of preparation on the part of the local, state and federal agencies caused the delay in the delivery of relief and evacuation satellites for the victims. Since many people are expected to lose their homes during natural calamities and man-made disasters, the emergence of violence, civil unrest and destruction of the environment have intensified the crisis. In addition, the, the limitation of Congress on the manner how FEMA utilizes its funds power infrastructure of the states has affected the delivery of effective communication to the disaster recovery units.
During times of calamities and other disasters, it is expected that many people suffer injuries and even death, which places the nation under a state of emergency. Thus, it is vital to receive the proper funding from the government in order to carry out effective communication among inter-agencies such as the local police department, to enable it to develop a multi-agency emergency response plan to provide the proper guidelines in the event that natural or man-made disasters will occur.
References:
Burns, L. (2007). Fema (Federal Emergency Management Agency): An Organization in the
Crosshairs. New York: Nova Publishers.
Williams, E.D. (2007). The Puzzle of Fascism: Could Fascism Arise in America or Could It
Already Be a Fascist State, 2nd ed. Web. Retrieved on July 15, 2013, from
http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=aB75K5nfuXkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.
