On this page you will find information regarding the Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council, the communities in the Northeast Planning Region, and a brief history of how the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security started the regional homeland security initiative.

 

The Region
The Northeast Homeland Security Planning Region contains 85 communities stretching from Ashby in the Northwest to Salisbury on the Northeastern coastal border with New Hampshire and Holliston in the Southwest. The region skirts the immediate urban, inner core of metro-Boston but also includes communities such as Arlington, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Saugus, and Watertown, which are immediately outside of the urban inner core. In the Northeast Region there are 1,971,945 people (747,313 households) in 1,310 square miles for an average population density of 1,505 people per square mile.

The Council
In the spring of 2004, now the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) designated five homeland security planning regions and appointed a sixteen-member multidisciplinary Advisory Council for each region. Council members represent all relevant public safety disciplines including law enforcement, fire service, emergency management, local public health, hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), public works, transportation, corrections, and local government administration.

The Goal
The Advisory Council serves as the policy making body for the Northeast Homeland Security Planning Region as defined by the Massachusetts State Homeland Security Strategy developed by EOPSS. The role and responsibilities of the Council are to develop a regional Homeland Security Plan and oversee all grant program expenditures. The Regional Advisory Councils, with the help of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and regional planning agencies (RPAs), submitted their first plan to EOPSS on July 28, 2004 after approximately a six-week development period.

EOPSS reached out to RPAs to help facilitate and draft the regional plans and to act as fiduciaries in their implementation and provide additional planning and facilitation services to the Councils as needed. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, MAPC, serves in this role for the Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council.