BATON ROUGE, LA — May 9, 2018 — Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome’s Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (MOHSEP) was recently evaluated by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) and was once again awarded the program’s highest honor. MOHSEP has maintained its #1 rating through the EMAP Accreditation since 2007.

“The efforts shown throughout this reaccreditation process demonstrate our commitment to building safer communities using credible standards. As we continue to enhance our resiliency, my office will use these standards as a blueprint for continuous improvement,” said Mayor Broome. “I commend the entire MOHSEP staff for maintaining the highest level of operating standards while continuing to focus on the health, safety, and wellness of the East Baton Rouge community.”

The EMAP accreditation process evaluates emergency management programs on compliance with requirements in 16 areas including: planning; resource management; training; exercises, evaluations, and corrective actions; communications and warning; and administration. Within those areas, EMAP evaluators use a set of 64 standards and 104 sub-standards covering a variety of emergency management practices, disaster preparedness and response systems capabilities to ensure compliance with the program standards of excellence. EMAP is the only accreditation process for emergency management and provides applicants the opportunity to be evaluated for compliance with standards certified by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI).

MOHSEP Director Clay Rives said, “I thank all of our local, state, federal, and community emergency management partners who assist and support our daily mission. The EMAP standards are above and beyond basic emergency operations, and this achievement is a direct result of teamwork by a very motivated and knowledgeable staff, committed leaders, and engaged partners. Without their efforts, maintaining accreditation would be nearly impossible.”

MOHSEP is East Baton Rouge’s coordinating agency for emergency and disaster activities. In 2017, Mayor Broome activated MOHSEP for 21 separate incidents, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and Tropical Storms Cindy and Nate. In 2018, MOHSEP and staff have been activated in preparation and response to wintry weather, flash flood warnings, and the cresting of the Mississippi River.

For more information, contact MOHSEP at (225) 389-2100, follow @RedStickReady on Facebook and Twitter, and download the Red Stick Ready mobile application, free on Apple and Android devices by searching "Red Stick Ready."