Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency

Homeland Security

Homeland Security Begins with Hometown Security
The nationwide "If You See Something, Say Something™" public awareness campaign - is a simple and effective program to raise public awareness of indicators of terrorism and terrorism-related crime, and to emphasize the importance of reporting suspicious activity to the proper local law enforcement authorities. The campaign was originally used by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which has licensed the use of the slogan to DHS for anti-terrorism and anti-terrorism crime related efforts.

Factors such as race, ethnicity, national origin, or religious affiliation alone are not suspicious. For that reason, the public should report only suspicious behavior and situations (e.g., an unattended backpack in a public place or someone trying to break into a restricted area) rather than beliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations, or speech unrelated to terrorism or other criminal activity. Only reports that document behavior reasonably indicative of criminal activity related to terrorism will be shared with federal partners. DHS is working to expand “If You See Something, Say Something ™” throughout the country by partnering with a variety of entities including: transportation systems, universities, states, cities, sports leagues and local law enforcement. If you’re interested in getting your group involved please contact 202-282-8010.

Strengthening Hometown Security
Both the "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign and the NSI underscore the concept that homeland security begins with hometown security. An alert public plays a critical role in keeping our nation safe. Strengthening hometown security involves creating partnerships across numerous states as well as the private sector.

 

If you see something suspicious taking place then report that behavior or activity to local law enforcement or in the case of emergency call 9-1-1.  You may also report suspicious activity on the state outline - 1-866-wvwatch. Click here to report online.

 

Protecting Privacy, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
A critical element of the DHS mission is ensuring that the civil rights and civil liberties of persons are not diminished by our security efforts, activities, and programs. Consequently, the "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign respects civil rights or civil liberties by emphasizing behavior, rather than appearance, in identifying suspicious activity.
Factors such as race, ethnicity, national origin, or religious affiliation alone are not suspicious. For that reason, the public should report only suspicious behavior and situations (e.g., an unattended backpack in a public place or someone trying to break into a restricted area) rather than beliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations, or speech unrelated to terrorism or other criminal activity. Only reports that document behavior reasonably indicative of criminal activity related to terrorism will be shared with federal partners.

The West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
The WV Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has the overall responsibility for prevention, planning, responding to and recovering from all major events, both man-made and natural. It is responsible for coordinating with other federal, state, local private and volunteer partners to assist the citizens of West Virginia during disasters.

The West Virginia DHSEM has established a free application for smartphones to report suspicious activity from the Apps Store online.

 

The West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center
The West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center is a partnership between public and private entities. Through the cooperation of local, state, and federal law enforcement, public safety agencies, and the private sector, the fusion center is able to better protect the citizens of the United States against all hazards. This is accomplished by aggressively facilitating the collection and compilation of all credible information and, through professional analysis of collected information and open source documents, producing reliable and credible intelligence.
The mission of the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center is to anticipate, identify, prevent, and monitor criminal activity and all other hazards and to responsibly distribute that intelligence to its stakeholders while both protecting the rights of citizens and guarding the rights and integrity of law enforcement and private industry.