A Brief History of Cedarburg Emergency Government

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EMERGENCY GOVERNMENT TURNS 50
Emergency Government began during the height of the cold war and was called “Civil Defense.” All the training was directed toward “Cold War” activities such as radiological monitoring, bomb shelters, and shelter management, communication, first aid, etc. Cedarburg also had an organization called Auxiliary Police which handled Friday night shopping traffic in downtown Cedarburg and worked high school athletic events. Members were taken from the “Civil Defense” unit and trained to assist the regular police. In the 1970s these two units were combined as the Civil Defense Auxiliary Police. In the 1980s the Federal Government changed the Civil Defense name to Emergency Government. They currently handle traffic and crowd control at parades, runs, fires, and major accidents. A mobile command center and mobile communication center are used to coordinate the emergency service in the County in case of a major disaster.
Emergency Government currently has 27 unpaid volunteers on their roster, and meet the first Monday of each month in the basement of the old Police Station on Hanover Avenue. Emergency Government recently published an “Emergency/Disaster Handbook for our Citizens” available free of charge at City Hall.
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City of Cedarburg Newsletter 2006

SOME OF YOU MAY REMEMBER THE “BLOCK WARDENS’ OF WWII. EACH
WENT AROUND A DESIGNATED AREA OF THE CITY AND MADE SURE
THERE WERE NO OUTSIDE LIGHTS ON AND ALL WINDOW SHADES WERE
PULLED, AND STREET LIGHTS WERE OUT AT NIGHT SO AIRCRAFT WOULD
NOT KNOW THERE WAS A CITY DOWN HERE. AFTER WWII THIS
ORGANIZATION WAS DISBANDED.
IN THE 50’S WHEN THE ‘COLD WAR’ HEATED UP AND ‘HOMEFRONT’ SECURITY AND PROTECTION WAS FELT TO BE NEEDED ‘CIVIL DEFENSE’ WAS STARTED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. CEDARBURG’S WAS ORGANIZED IN 1955.
IT STARTED WITH ORGANIZING HOME AND PUBLIC SHELTERS, TRAINING IN SHELTER MANAGEMENT, FIRST, AID, BOMB AND LARGE AMMO IDENTIFICATION DETECTION, SELF DEFENSE AND CROWD CONTROL. THE UNIFORM WAS MEDIUM GRAY, WITH ARMY HELMET LINERS PAINTED ‘WHiTE.
SOME YEARS LATER CEDARBURG ALSO STARTED AN ‘AUXILLARY POLICE’
UNIT. THESE PEOPLE WERE DRAWN FROM THE C.D. AND WERE USED FOR
TRAFFIC CONTROL ON ‘FRIDAY SHOPPING NIGHT’ AT VARIOUS
INTERSECTIONS OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA, ALSO AT ATHLETIC EVENTS
AND OTHER PUBLIC GATHERINGS.
IN THE LATE 60’S OR EARLY 70’S THESE 2 UNITS WERE COMBINED AS CEDARBURG EMERGENCY GOVERNMENT AUXILIARY POLICE.
OUR DUTIES WERE COMBINED AND UNIFORMS CHANGED TO ‘POLICE
TYPE,” AND BECAUSE OF INSURANCE LIABILITIES SOME USED ARMY
VEHICLES WERE PURCHASED AND CONVERTED FOR OUR USE.
AS THE COLD WAR DOWN GRADED DUTIES CHANGED FOR OUR
ORGANIZATION. SHELTERS WERE DEEMED UNNECESSARY, THE FIRST AID
TRAINING TIME GREATLY INCREASED AS DID THE STAFF OF THE RESCUE
SQUAD, SO WE DROPPED THE TRAINING.
EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTERS BECAME THE NECESSARY PLACE TO
OPERATE FROM, AND OUR DUTIES CHANGED TO. ‘SEVERE WEATHER
WATCHES, TRAFFIC AND CROWD CONTROL, AT CERTAIN EVENTS WHICH
INCLUDE ALL PARADES, 5K RUNS, MAXWELL ST DAYS, ASSISTING P.D.
WITH SEARCHES AND THE P.D. WITH TRAFFIC AND CROWN CONTROL AT
FIRES AND ACCIDENTS.

By Frank Even Emergency Government Director