The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Center for Public Safety Management (CPSM) have renewed their longstanding partnership to provide public safety technical and chief selection services to cities and counties throughout the United States. The renewed agreement, which took effect June 1, 2017, will continue for five years and identifies CPSM as ICMA’s exclusive provider of local government public safety consulting and technical services.

Originally created as a group within ICMA, the CPSM was launched in 2006 to provide support to local governments in the areas of police, fire, and emergency medical services. As the group grew, it was spun out as a free-standing organization during ICMA’s 2014 restructuring.

“Our membership recognizes that public safety is a core service provided by local governments for their residents,” said ICMA Executive Director Marc Ott. “Today’s public safety issues are complex and controversial, and sometimes an unbiased, outside perspective can provide valuable insights to managers. CPSM delivers the kind of data-driven, third-party analysis that empowers local government managers to make thoughtful decisions. Because of the group’s long history of delivering value to hundreds of communities, ICMA’s exclusive arrangement with CPSM reflects our belief in the importance of these type of services to our membership. Collaborating with CPSM will help our members better manage and deliver the services they are charged with leading.”

CPSM team members occasionally use their public safety experience to represent ICMA in its dealings with federal agencies and other public safety professional associations. Dr. Dov Chelst, principal and director of quantitative analysis, for example, serves as ICMA’s representative on the Executive Advisory Board of the National Fire Protection Association for its National Fire Data System Project. Leonard Matarese, CPSM founder and principal and an ICMA Life Member, acts as the liaison between ICMA and the Bureau of Justice Assistance for its Body-Worn Camera Technical and Training Assistance project.

With the renewed agreement, CPSM will continue to work with ICMA to conduct webinars and conference educational sessions on public safety topics and to act as a resource for ICMA members by responding to questions concerning public safety issues in their communities. CPSM will also continue to provide assistance to ICMA members during the police and fire chief selection process through its Chief Selection Advantage program.

“As an ICMA member for nearly 40 years, I am honored that the organization is continuing its partnership with CPSM as its exclusive provider of public safety services,” said Matarese. “Having completed more than 280 projects in 41 states and 204 communities, we have amassed the experience and expertise to assist local governments with whatever public safety challenges they may face.”

To contact CPSM, visit www.cpsm.us, call 800-998-3392, or send an email to inquiry@cpsm.us.

About ICMA
ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, advances professional local government worldwide through leadership, management, innovation, and ethics. ICMA is second only to the federal government in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data focused on issues related to local government management. Through expansive partnerships with local governments, federal agencies, nonprofits, and philanthropic funders, the organization gathers information on topics such as sustainability, health care, aging communities, public safety, economic development, homeland security, alternative service delivery, as well as performance measurement and management data on a variety of local government services—all of which support related training, education, and technical assistance.

About CPSM
ICMA launched the Center for Public Safety Management (CPSM) in 2006 to provide support to local governments in the areas of police, fire, and emergency medical services. Today, as a stand-alone entity, CPSM provides training and research for ICMA’s members and represents ICMA in its dealings with the federal government and other public safety professional associations, such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, International Fire Chiefs Association, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Police Executive Research Forum, International Public Management Association for Human Resources, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), National Fire Protection Association, and others. CPSM also represents local governments at the federal level and has been involved in numerous projects with DOJ and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.