Office of Emergency Management
Mission statement
Protects the people who live, work and play in the City of Minneapolis, the State and Nation by building, sustaining and improving the department's capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from threatened or actual disasters, whether natural or man-made and acts of terrorism.
Our people
Programs and divisions
Purpose and context
The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) promotes safe, resilient communities with the capacity to cope with hazards and disasters — a resilient City government enterprise serving a resilient Minneapolis community. The work performed by OEM helps protect the people who live, work and play in the City of Minneapolis, our State and our Nation by building, sustaining and improving our capability to prevent, mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from complex incidents and threatened or actual disasters, whether natural or human-caused and acts of terrorism.
As an enterprise office, the OEM serves other City departments through external emergency management coordination and internal continuity of operations planning efforts. In order to accomplish its mission, OEM partners with other local, regional, state and federal government agencies as well as the non-profit and private sectors.
Program mission areas
Under its enabling authority, OEM’s scope is determined by the mission areas and capabilities defined by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) Standard 1600 as seen through the lens of the City’s hazard and risk picture. This nationally recognized standard provides the fundamental criteria for preparedness including the planning, implementation, assessment, and maintenance of programs for prevention, mitigation, response, continuity, and recovery. OEM adheres to the NFPA 1600 standard to accomplish its vision in five primary mission areas:
Prevention: OEM works across the enterprise and with external partners to prevent incidents that threaten life, property, operations and the environment. OEM monitors the hazard environment and provides partners with information needed to take preventative measures.
Mitigation: OEM works across the enterprise and with external partners to identify and implement measures to limit or control the consequences, extent or severity of incidents that cannot be prevented.
Preparedness: OEM works across the enterprise to prepare for response and recovery efforts. We develop, implement and maintain the ongoing capabilities needed to respond to and recover from complex incidents. Activities include planning, organizing, equipping, training and exercising. The scope of these capabilities includes internal preparedness in terms of continuity of operations and continuity of government as well as external preparedness related to community response and recovery.
Response: OEM works in the incident management system to direct, control and coordinate response continuity and recovery operations. In most cases, OEM provides interagency coordination in support of departments who have primary command authority. In other cases, OEM has a lead, command role in response.
Recovery: OEM leads the damage assessment and community recovery to complex incidents. This includes providing for the restoration of processes, technology, information, services, facilities, programs and infrastructure.
In addition to these mission areas, OEM’s operation includes planning, risk assessment, finance, administration, training, testing, exercising and other support functions. Taken in total, these capabilities represent a standard-defined service level.
All of OEM’s work is designed to implement or support one or more of these mission areas. As NFPA 1600 applies to the enterprise, OEM’s operations are part of an integrated enterprise-wide function.
Services provided
OEM implements the following eleven capabilities to implement the five mission areas. Capabilities are either “steady state” (in continuous operation) or “contingent” (operated only in response to a complex incident). The capabilities support the mission areas as follows:
Watch Officer Program: On a 24x7 basis, OEM maintains situational awareness of identified risks and hazards as well as incidents that are or may become complex, provides interagency support as needed, adjusts level of preventative measures and activates the Emergency Operations Center as needed.
Warning, Notification and Communications: OEM’s warning, notification and communications capabilities, including but not limited to the outdoor warning siren system, mass notification system, radio systems and priority telephone access systems, can be used to alert, notify and communicate with stakeholders potentially at risk from, responding to or recovering from an actual or impending incident.
Prevention Program: The City is able to identify risks and take action to prevent incidents that threaten life, property, operations, information and the environment.
Mitigation Program: The City takes appropriate interim and long-term action to reduce vulnerabilities and takes actions to limit or control the consequences, extent or severity of an incident that cannot be prevented.
Public Education: The whole community - all people who live, work and play in the City of Minneapolis - has access to the information they need to understand key hazards, impacts and prepare and plan for themselves, their family, their business or other group or institution.
Public Information: The City can disseminate information and respond to requests for information from internal and external audiences before, during and after the incident and establish and manage a joint information center.
Emergency Operations: The City is capable of planned disaster and complex incident response, including virtual and physical Emergency Operations Center operations that meets its primary threats and hazards but is flexible enough to respond to unanticipated circumstances.
Recovery Operations: The City is able to assess damage, participate in the application for and acceptance of state and federal assistance, coordinate community recovery and restore its processes, technology, information, services, resources, facilities, programs and infrastructure to a level that is acceptable to policy makers.
Continuity Operations: The City is capable of maintaining continuity of operations and government during and following emergencies and disasters.
Employee Disaster Assistance and Support: The City is able to account for employees following an emergency or disaster and to assist them with basic needs.
Resource Management: The City has access to the resources needed to support the program, including mutual aid and volunteer and donations management capabilities.
Race equity impacts
The Office of Emergency Management supports the City’s Strategic and Racial Equity Action Plan and the Vision and Mission it outlines. The work to build, sustain and improve the City’s capabilities to prevent, mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from hazard events is aligned with the Plan’s Values of Equity, Safety, Excellence, Welcoming, Stewardship and Health.
Disasters are often seen as being equal-opportunity events that impact people regardless of age, gender, race, or economic status. While true to a certain degree, research has shown that disasters often disproportionately affect the most vulnerable members of our communities, particularly those that do not have the necessary resources to cope with and recover from such events. The work of the Office of Emergency Management helps support and coordinate the enterprise-wide actions taken before, during, and after emergencies and disasters.
The City’s Emergency Operations Plan, for example, specifically addresses advocating for the vulnerable and underrepresented, especially those with functional and access needs. It also encourages involvement by the public by being prepared for and aware of the vulnerabilities and risks they may experience. Further, our office maintains connections with local organizations that are best able to provide support and assistance to the community.
OEM has helped support large planned events such as Super Bowl 52, the NCAA Final Four, and the annual Twin Cities Marathon; coordinated City resources that were used to establish the Navigation Center in January 2019 to assist those experiencing homelessness; responded to and directly managed donations of clothing, diapers, and other personal goods received after the Drake Hotel Fire on December 25, 2019; supported situational awareness and the coordination of City activities during protests after the death of George Floyd, and it continue to provide resources to internal and external partners in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.