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.