About Us

What is the role of the South Dakota OEM?

OEM is charged with supporting the national system of emergency management. OEM provides for the national emergency management system by encouraging the development of comprehensive disaster preparedness and assistance plans, programs, capabilities, and organizations by the State and its local governments. OEM ensures that funding is located, acquired and provided to local governments through the day-to-day management of the: National Flood Insurance Program; Hazardous Materials Program; Hazard Mitigation Program; Public Assistance Program; Emergency Performance Grant Program; and other initiatives and programs, as allowed.

Because disasters often disrupt the normal functioning of governments and communities, and adversely affect individuals and families with great severity; special measures, designed to assist the efforts of the affected jurisdictions in expediting the rendering of aid, assistance, and emergency services, and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of devastated areas are necessary. OEM provides the organization necessary to facilitate the rapid acquisition and delivery of resources necessary to recover from "major" disasters.

What is the role of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety?

To keep South Dakota a safe place to live, work, visit and raise a family. To meet this mission, the Department will cooperate, coordinate and communicate with partner agencies at the state, local, tribal and federal levels to provide public safety services for South Dakota.

The Department has a number of duties it is expected to perform: law enforcement, public safety communications, highway safety, traffic crash record keeping, driver licensing, regulatory inspection services, emergency medical licensing and certification, fire training and investigation, emergency preparedness and hazard mitigation, and most recently, homeland security. The agencies in the Department responsible for these tasks know that the safety and security of our citizens are the result of their labor; and with that in mind, each agency understands that they must work as a team. They also know that it is imperative to involve the public, private business and the media in these safety efforts.

What is the purpose of the Duty Officer Program?

The purpose of the Duty Officer Program is two-fold. (1) Provide assistance to county emergency managers with the location and acquisition of resources and (2) Provide state agencies that have mission requirements with information regarding current events as they relate to their mission requirements.

Requests for state resources or assistance, including the National Guard, should be directed to the State of South Dakota Office of Emergency Management Duty Officer. The Duty Officer is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Duty Officer can be contacted by each jurisdiction's emergency manager or assigned state agency representatives at (605) 773-3231.