Winter 2005                                             Volume 7    Issue 1

New Jersey State Employees Complete CERT Training
Joseph Geleta, New Jersey State Citizens Corp Council, New Jersey

Thanks to the support of Governor James E. McGreevey, New Jersey State employees were given the opportunity to take CERT training during state time.  The response to this initiative was tremendous with over 500 State employees enrolling in the 1st phase of training.  The following State agencies participated in this 1st phase of training; Department of Personnel, Department of Corrections, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Office of Information Technology, State Commission of Investigations, Department of Banking and Insurance, Board of Public Utilities, New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation, and the Governor’s Office.

All State employees participating in the training have demonstrated much enthusiasm and interest in the program. Throughout April and May they will perform their disaster exercise at the Mercer County Fire Academy - Dempster Training Center - in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Thus far, all have performed perfectly and demonstrated their skills in fire suppression, search and rescue, cribbing and medical operations.  A formal graduation and recognition ceremony for all State CERT graduates is being planned for the month of June.

The success of this program has been due to the cooperative effort with the Governor’s Office of Volunteerism, NJ Department of Law and Public Safety, Office of the Attorney General, NJ State Police Office of Emergency Management, NJ Department of Personnel, NJ Department of State, the County Offices of Emergency Management, and the NJ State Citizen Corps Council.

Training was held throughout the State at various State Office facilities.  Assisting with the CERT training for the State employees were members of the NJ State Police, NJ Department of Corrections, Department of Health, Mercer County Fire Academy, Mercer County Sheriffs Department, NJ Task Force One (Urban Search and Rescue), Capital Health System, NJ Department of Agriculture, Shamong Township Office of Emergency Management, Mercer County Office of Emergency Management, NJ Division of Mental Health Services, Parsippany Police Department, Parsippany Office of Emergency Management, Morris County Police and Fire Academy, Nutley Office of Emergency Management, Nutley Mental Health Services, Nutley Fire Department, and the Essex County Office of Emergency Management.

The second phase of training will commence in late May and early June and will be coordinated through the New Jersey State Police State Governmental Security Bureau and Office of Emergency Management.  Additional State Department’s will be answering the Governor McGreevey’s call to action to become members of the State Employee Community Emergency Response Teams.  The State of New Jersey is committed to making the President’s Citizen Corps Program a success and we will continue to reach out to our citizens to expand our program.

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