Sussex Co. Emergency Services names Robert Murray new Director of Public Safety, plans to enhance community safety

SUSSEX COUNTY, Md. – Staying ahead of the game. That’s what the Sussex County Emergency Services department is hoping to do, by naming Robert Murray as the new director of public safety.

Murray is the first to pilot this position and said with his new role, EMS will be able to cover all four corners of the county, efficiently.

“We really have to look for opportunities to work together, to improve that efficiency, to lean on the EMS strengths, and lean on the dispatch center strengths, and find out how we can work closer together,” Murray said.

The change comes after emergency operations center director, Joseph Thomas, announced his retirement in late March.

The department is restructuring its public safety model. Under Murray’s newly created director of public safety position, there will be three deputy directors, including a new deputy director of public safety emergency management, which they’re now on the hunt to fill.

“For the first time ever, the county will have a dedicated emergency manager, whose whole position will be to look out for the safety of Sussex County and prepare Sussex County for what’s next,” Murray said.

One of Murray’s first orders of business it to fill that new position by June, so the department is fully prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.

“Anytime you have an emergency or a large-scale event, the better the relationship with all parties involved, the more smoothly things are going to run,” Murray said.

“Being able to get that person in here, do introductions, have them meet the key partners, the key stake holders across the region, is only going to make things run smoother if we do have that event,” Murray added.