“Without that common operating picture, responses became fragmented, with everybody only concerned with feeding their own piece of the beast.” – Mel Gaspard Deputy Director of the Response Division, LA GOHSEP
When Louisiana’s Governor prioritized a statewide common operating picture (COP), the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (LA GOHSEP) faced a familiar challenge: overcoming fragmented visibility and inconsistent situational awareness. Across 16 Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), agencies were relying on PowerPoint presentations that became outdated minutes after they were made. As Mel Gaspard, Deputy Director of the Response Division, plainly put the cost: “Without that common operating picture, responses became fragmented, with everybody only concerned with feeding their own piece of the beast.”
To solve this, LA GOHSEP built a live, permission-based COP using Juvare’s WebEOC, combining real-time board data with GIS mapping, API integrations from federal partners like NOAA and FEMA, and live feeds from private vendors.
ESFs now update staging areas, shelter statuses, resource counts, and mission tracking directly in WebEOC, and that data flows automatically into the COP, 24/7, even between activations. Cabinet-level secretaries brief directly from the COP, and a public-facing portal keeps citizens informed in real time.
The transformation has been fundamental. Where agencies once operated in silos, Louisiana now has what Gaspard describes as a truly integrated approach: “The state operates as a unified team instead of separate entities. We keep moving forward with one picture.”
