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What does a director of public safety do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
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Director of public safety responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real director of public safety resumes:

  • Manage staffs' investigations and prosecutions involving violations of FINRA, NASD, NYSE rules and federal securities laws.
  • Achieve successful recoveries against insurers on environmental litigation.
  • Lead corporate wide development of a severance pay plan that dramatically reduce employee litigation.
  • Manage domestic and international travel arrangements including transportation, lodging, and logistics for individuals and groups utilizing travel management systems.
  • Provide strategic leadership and planning for the environmental nonprofit's commercial energy efficiency services, program design, and program implementation.
  • Participate in numerous combat operations providing security for key U.S. and NATO personnel and equipment while deploy overseas to Afghanistan.

Director of public safety skills and personality traits

We calculated that 14% of Directors Of Public Safety are proficient in Patrol, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Leadership skills, and Management skills.

We break down the percentage of Directors Of Public Safety that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patrol, 14%

    Developed and implemented patrol tactics, strategies for providing or validating timely and pertinent staff training.

  • Criminal Justice, 9%

    Designed and evaluated curriculum to meet accreditation and licensing requirements for individuals entering the law enforcement and criminal justice career fields.

  • Emergency Management, 6%

    Conducted extensive urban tactical training and force protection exercises, which encompassed a broad spectrum of emergency management agencies.

  • Oversight, 6%

    General oversight of all Haz-Mat related incidents.

  • Law Enforcement Agencies, 4%

    Developed and maintained close working relationships with law enforcement agencies through the coordination of training exercises.

  • CPR, 4%

    Developed & taught all security classes, CPR & First-Aid/AED Training programs to all employees.

Most directors of public safety use their skills in "patrol," "criminal justice," and "emergency management" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential director of public safety responsibilities here:

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a director of public safety to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "top executives must be able to convey information clearly and persuasively." Directors of public safety often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "designed and acquired an emergency communication trailer for emergency response and mitigation and assist with business continuity. "

Leadership skills. Many director of public safety duties rely on leadership skills. "top executives must be able to shape and direct an organization by coordinating policies, people, and resources.," so a director of public safety will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways director of public safety responsibilities rely on leadership skills: "provided cross-functional leadership of security operations activities including vulnerability mitigation, incident response, and risk assessments. "

Problem-solving skills. director of public safety responsibilities often require "problem-solving skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "top executives need to identify and resolve issues within an organization." This resume example shows what directors of public safety do with problem-solving skills on a typical day: "identify, resolve and develop resolutions for risk management issues as they occur on the hotel property. "

Time-management skills. A commonly-found skill in director of public safety job descriptions, "time-management skills" is essential to what directors of public safety do. Director of public safety responsibilities rely on this skill because "top executives do many tasks concurrently to ensure that their work gets done and that the organization meets its goals." You can also see how director of public safety duties rely on time-management skills in this resume example: "handle payroll reporting within the established guidelines and deadlines and ensuring cost effective measures are administered at the station. "

All director of public safety skills

The three companies that hire the most director of public safetys are:

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Compare different directors of public safety

Director of public safety vs. Co-founder

A Co-Founder is an essential member of a company as they complement the skills, vision, and mission of the Founder. Most of the time, the tasks of a Co-Founder revolve around the financial planning and developing strategies that would be beneficial for the company's financial gain and workforce. Furthermore, a Co-Founder must coordinate with the Founder and other staff and departments to remain aware of the progress or issues, should there be any, to provide timely resolutions.

We looked at the average director of public safety salary and compared it with the wages of a co-founder. Generally speaking, co-founders are paid $33,751 higher than directors of public safety per year.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, director of public safety responsibilities require skills like "patrol," "criminal justice," "emergency management," and "oversight." Meanwhile a typical co-founder has skills in areas such as "financial statements," "business strategy," "business plan," and "non-profit organization." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Co-founders tend to reach similar levels of education than directors of public safety. In fact, co-founders are 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Director of public safety vs. Co-owner

A co-owner is responsible for ensuring smooth business operations, searching for the best industrial opportunities to drive revenues and increase profitability. Some of the business co-owners' duties include planning activities for business promotions, monitoring current market trends, establishing a reliable workforce, developing product specifications, managing financial goals and cost estimates, strengthening marketing strategies, and keeping records of business papers and documents. A co-owner should have excellent leadership, communication, and decision-making skills to secure business growth and success.

A career as a co-owner brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a director of public safety. In fact, co-owners salary is $15,433 higher than the salary of directors of public safety per year.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that director of public safety responsibilities requires skills like "patrol," "criminal justice," "emergency management," and "oversight." But a co-owner might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "financial statements," "business plan," and "real estate."

In general, co-owners achieve lower levels of education than directors of public safety. They're 7.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Director of public safety vs. Owner

Owners, in the most basic sense, own the business, company, or organization. They are responsible for building the business. They create business plans and the general vision and mission of the company, set goals, work on these goals, and ensure that the business keeps running. They manage all aspects of their business, from finances to marketing to people, etc. When the business becomes stable, owners eventually hire more employees. As such, owners also become overseers who would ensure that the organization remains afloat.

On average, owners earn higher salaries than directors of public safety, with a $19,063 difference per year.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from director of public safety resumes include skills like "patrol," "criminal justice," "emergency management," and "oversight," whereas an owner is more likely to list skills in "customer service," "payroll," "financial statements," and "product development. "

Most owners achieve a lower degree level compared to directors of public safety. For example, they're 6.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Director of public safety vs. Operations vice president

The responsibilities of an operations vice president will revolve around overseeing business operations and ensuring workforce and workflow efficiency through evaluations and providing strategic plans that would drive the company to meet its vision and mission. An operations vice president, in adherence to the company policies and regulations, also has the power to hire and train employees, even to execute disciplinary actions such as termination or suspension when necessary. Furthermore, an operations vice president also has discretion in reviewing and approving reports and requirements in various aspects such as budgeting and new policies.

Operations vice presidents average a higher salary than the annual salary of directors of public safety. The difference is about $91,805 per year.While both directors of public safety and operations vice presidents complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like oversight, risk management, and training programs, the two careers vary in some skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap between directors of public safety and operations vice presidents, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a director of public safety might have more use for skills like "patrol," "criminal justice," "emergency management," and "law enforcement agencies." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of operations vice presidents require skills like "customer service," "project management," "process improvement," and "continuous improvement. "

The average resume of operations vice presidents showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to directors of public safety. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.3%.

Types of director of public safety

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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