The Secretary oversees several state agencies, which are charged with a variety of responsibilities, including enforcing criminal, highway safety, and alcoholic beverage laws; protecting the public through confinement, treatment and re-entry preparation; training firefighters and other first responders, and planning and coordinating the state's emergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation efforts.

To reduce death and disability resulting from sudden or serious injury and illness in the Commonwealth through planning and development of a comprehensive, coordinated statewide emergency medical services (EMS) system; and provision of other technical assistance and support to enable the EMS community to provide the highest quality emergency medical care possible to those in need. Programs and services are designed to assure quality prehospital patient care, from when the call is received by the 911 center to the delivery of the patient to the trauma center or hospital.

Works with local government, state and federal agencies and voluntary organizations to provide resources and expertise through the four phases of emergency management: preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.