Civil Unrest in Minnesota Topic of April 20 Emergency Management Talk

Millersville University will host a talk by the Ramsey County (Minn.) Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Judd Freed, who will present "Conversation from the Front Line of One of America's Most Densely Populated Counties" at 7 p.m., April 20, in Myers Auditorium, McComsey Hall. The event, sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences, Center for Disaster Research and Education, and the undergraduate and graduate emergency management programs at Millersville, is open to the public free of charge.

Freed's talk will focus on the current civil unrest surrounding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which has grown from the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a law enforcement officer and COVID-19. An adjunct professor in Millersville's emergency management program, he has more than 35 years of experience in emergency management, homeland security, risk, resilience and continuity. He has worked in the academic, private and public sectors and created and expanded innovative and successful emergency management programs in local government, academia and as a private consultant.

A frequent presenter and lecturer, Freed is a member of the Roundtable on Risk and Resilience of Extreme Events, also known as the Resilient America Roundtable, a part of the National Academies' Science and Technology for Resilience program. He is active in government affairs issues pertaining to the structure of Homeland Security and the implications to and impact on local communities and local government. He has provided expert testimony before the U.S. Congress on several occasions and to federal commissions as well as the Minnesota State Legislature.

A certified emergency manager, Freed earned a Master of Arts degree in security studies (homeland defense and security) from the Naval Postgraduate School, a bachelor's degree in U.S. history from the University of Minnesota and a Certificate of General Management Excellence from the University's Carlson School of Management. He is a graduate of the Joint Forces Staff College Homeland Security Planner's Course and the Gavin de Becker & Associates' Advanced Threat Assessment and Management Academy.