Policing Crisis Situations

Maria Haberfeld is a Professor of Police Science, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.  She holds a PhD in Criminal Justice from City University of New York.  She served in the Israeli Defence Forces in a counter-terrorist unit and left the army at the rank of a Sergeant. Later she served in the Israel National Police and left the force at the rank of Lieutenant. She is one of the co-creators of Police Leadership Program for the NYPD sworn officers and the Academic Director of this program since its creation in 2001. In addition, she has created the Law Enforcement Leadership Institute for Police Chiefs in NY State and created an on-line Law Enforcement Leadership Certificate. She is an author, co-author, editor and co-editor of 25 books on policing and specializes in police training in the areas of ethics, integrity, use of force, multiculturalism and leadership. She has provided training to multiple police forces around the United Statesand the world.

Michelle Grutman (Chmelev) is graduate student at the International Criminal Justice Masters in Arts Candidate at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, New York. She has Bachelor Degree in Science, majoring in Political Science. She has worked as a civil litigation Paralegal for over 9 years at various firms in New York, which has exposed her to cases related to criminal liability and negligence in many organizations. She has worked on numerous trials, cases involving asbestos litigations as well as defence and personal injuries. At present time she is a research assistant at John Jay College, researching comparative Criminal Justice systems with focus on natural and manmade disasters and police response and preparedness.

Christopher R. Herrmann is an associate professor in the Department of Law & Police Science at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He earned his Ph.D. at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City - specializing in crime analysis and crime mapping. Dr. Herrmann is a former Crime Analyst Supervisor with the New York City Police Department where he worked on Citywide Shooting and Homicide analyses, crime prevention and control strategies, officer and resource allocation, and research of longitudinal crime trends throughout New York City. is currently working on violence prevention initiatives with several research teams at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, concentrating on gun violence, homicide, and carjacking.

This brief examines proactive steps police can take to lessen the potential for disaster, improve preparedness for disasters that do occur and enhance our ability to respond to and recover from them. Featuring several countries across the globe as case studies, it illustrates the predictability of various natural and manmade disasters and the need of the local police organizations to develop contingency plans to save lives and structures.  

With disaster losses and the human toll reaching staggering rates, and even more destructive events projected for the future as the climate shifts, there is a need for action by police and the local communities together. This volume offers a proactive plan that needs to be put in place for future crises, based on the projected predictability of reoccurring events.

The brief can serve as a template for other countries and police task forces that have and will face similar crises situations in the future.

1. Policing Crisis Situations - Let's be Prepared!.- 2. Canada.- 3. Greece.- 4. Netherlands.- 5. India.- 6. Israel.- 7. Italy.- 8. Japan.- 9. United States.- 10. From the US developed NIMS to Finland and its Simulation Technologies.