Book Review: Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers (EOC), 2nd edition
Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers (2nd edition); By Michael J. Fagel, Rick C. Mathews, and J. Howard Murphy. Routledge; 581 pages; $79.95
Most security experts today would agree that we live in an increasingly complex global environment. Emergencies and disasters appear to be rising in both number and level of severity, and many organizations have had to employ added measures to deal with a variety of threats and corresponding risks. For these reasons, more than ever, organizations are scanning their internal and external environments to identify best practices and emerging trends. It is into this challenging environment that the highly anticipated second edition of the Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) has been released.
Editors Fagel, Murphy, and Matthews are highly knowledgeable and accomplished professionals with a wide range of emergency management experience to their credit. They have significantly expanded on the widely acclaimed first edition by bringing together 20 of the leading experts in the field to discuss state-of-the-art strategies and techniques relevant to various aspects of emergency planning and EOC operations. In particular, the contributors represent a number of sectors and industries, thereby adding to the breadth and depth of the book.
It is clear that the release of the new edition was the result of a tremendous undertaking. The book is comprehensive in nature, covering a broad range of issues that emergency managers will find quite useful, from the history and evolution of emergency management and EOCs to the facilitation of effective emergency management, including EOC design and successfully managing the media environment, to the importance of multi-agency coordination and managing volunteers to various specialized applications. The text can be considered a must-have guide and reference for those operating in this increasingly dynamic and important environment. Moreover, the book builds on almost a decade of events and lessons learned since the first edition, including pandemic safety.
It should be noted that the Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers (2nd edition) was recently selected as the winner of the 2022 ASIS International Security Industry Book of the Year Award. The winner is selected by a panel of ASIS members who review member-authored titles based on a number of criteria. Some of the criteria include the relevancy of the work to current security threats and the importance of the subject to the field, as well as the uniqueness of the security concept, idea, or technology under consideration.
Reviewer: Ernest G. Vendrell, Ph.D., CPP, CEM, is a professor and associate director for the Department of Public Safety Administration at Saint Leo University. He serves on the ASIS Crisis Management and Business Continuity Community Steering Committee. In addition, he is a retired law enforcement professional, having served 27 years with the Miami-Dade Police Department in various capacities.
