The Department of Public Safety is composed of four major components as follows:

The mission is to detain arrested offenders until bail is posted or the court has disposed of the case; and to confine offenders who are sentenced by the Municipal or Superior Courts to terms less than one (1) year.

The County Executive closed the Detention Center in 1998 because the State reduced the number of inmates for which the State paid a daily fee; and the County experienced a 30% drop in the crime rate over the last seven (7) years. The taxpayers have only one (1) adult jail to support.

With over 900 beds, however, the County still sends a message that crime does not pay and is not going to be tolerated. The resulting drop in crime has made Mercer County a better place to live, work and raise a family.

The mission is to protect life and property in emergencies. The Emergency Management Coordinator prepares detailed plans for response to natural and man-made disasters. The OEM also provides for the training of volunteers to be relied upon in fire and medical emergencies.

The County OEM gets involved in any disaster that gets beyond the capabilities of the municipality to properly respond. The OEM is often activated whenever there are severe blizzards, floods, hurricanes, fires and chemical spills by coordinating the activities of the thirteen municipalities of the County. Assistance may also be obtained from the State OEM.

Pursuant to the plans, the County OEM brings the available resources to bear at the scene of emergencies. Several examples include the following: ambulances may be dispatched when there is a mass casualty situation: transportation may be provided during a blizzard to assure essential personnel get to work (e.g., doctors taken to hospitals and correction officers taken to the Correction Center); plows may be dispatched to clear the road and escort emergency vehicles to their destinations; water buffalos may be obtained to provide drinking water when the water system breaks down; boats may be obtained for evacuation during floods; and fire apparatus may be dispatched when a fire gets beyond the capability of the local municipality to get the fire under control with its own fire apparatus.

Located at the Captain John T. Dempster Sr. Fire Service Training Center, the mission is to provide quality education for fire and emergency service personnel; and to rent/offer its beautiful seminar facilities to business, industry and other governmental agencies for training in public safety. 

Courses taught to students who aspire to be firefighters include basic fire fighting, as well as engine company, truck and rescue operations. For experienced firefighters, in-service training courses include hazardous materials, rescue from confined spaces such as storage tanks, manholes and sewers, emergency response to terrorism, and leadership and command tactics. About 75 firefighters are trained and about 1400 firefighters are provided in-service training each year.

If you would like to register for courses you may call the Academy at 609-799-3245.

The mission of the Medical Examiner is to investigate whenever a person's death is unexpected and the cause of death is not immediately known. The medical examiner also investigates deaths that are the result of violence or injury and deaths that occur in legal custody.

If you would like to know more about this Office, please cll the Medical Examiner at 609-530-7523.