Emergency Management Duties
Emergency Preparedness is responsible for:

• Coordinating response to emergencies of all sizes, be it a local response or an incident requiring state or federal assistance
• Developing and maintaining an all hazards plan for disaster response
• Establishing and maintaining inter and intra-jurisdictional agreements
• Managing long term mitigation and recovery efforts before and after any incident

Parker County Office of Emergency Management 
The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is listed with the Governor's Division of Emergency Management as the primary emergency management organization for most cities in Parker County. Parker County OEM houses and operates the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for all incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county. All personnel involved with the OEM are subject to 24/7 response and activation of the county emergency management plan and the EOC. OEM utilizes National Incident Management System (NIMS) standards integration for all public and private agencies within the county.

Phases of Emergency Management
Mitigation
Mitigation refers to the actions taken before an event occurs to prevent or lessen the impact the event has to life and property. Examples of mitigation activities are:

• Establish building codes
• Grant funding
• Training

Preparedness
Preparedness involves activities, actions, procurements, planning, training, and inter jurisdictional cooperation designed to increase response readiness to identified hazards the community faces.

Response
Response involves the mobilization of resources to meet the needs of the community in response to the nature of the disaster, including local, county, state, and federal resources as necessary. Response is usually associated with the period of time immediately after the event and necessary to ensure life safety issues are handled. Examples of response activities include:

• Debris removal
• Fire and EMS services
• Law enforcement
• Public works activities
• Search and rescue

Recovery
Recovery is the long-term mobilization of support operations that work toward returning the community to its pre-event condition. This period is usually when social services and volunteer organizations tasked with relief effort gear up. The greater the magnitude of the disaster, the greater the recovery effort.

Mission
Our goal is to save lives and to protect property through coordination of an integrated emergency management system with all emergency response organizations and volunteers. We support efforts to train and exercise emergency responders in both the public and private sectors. This office is committed to effective actions to mitigate disasters and to reduce the impact of those over which we have no control. When necessary, we apply the law fairly and consistently throughout the county in an effort to reduce or eliminate needless suffering caused by preventable acts or neglect.