White House Taps Utah's Top Public Safety Official

None by KCPW

Flowers to Head FEMA Region 8 Office

(KCPW News) Utah's top public safety official has taken an assignment from the White House to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency's efforts in six western states. Utah Commissioner of Public Safety Robert Flowers is stepping down after six years on the Governor's cabinet to head FEMA's Region 8 in Denver, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Flowers is best known for overseeing heightened security efforts during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in the wake of September 11th terrorist attacks. He says he wouldn't have taken the job with FEMA if he weren't completely confident that important changes have and will be made to the organization. FEMA's response to hurricanes in the Gulf Coast last summer has been widely criticized.

Utah Highway Patrol Colonel Scott Duncan will take over as the state's top public safety official next week. He is a 30-year law enforcement veteran and has led the Utah Highway Patrol since 2001. His new duties include sitting on the Governor's cabinet and overseeing homeland security for the state. Governor Jon Huntsman Junior says he appointed Duncan because of his excellent work improving morale among highway patrol employees and decreasing fatalities on Utah's roadways. 

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