Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cuyahoga County gets grant of $15.3 million for security

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 13:04:27 -0400

Cuyahoga County gets grant of $15.3 million for security
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH 

04/02/04

Scott Hiaasen
Plain Dealer Reporter

Right now, a paramedic in Parma can't talk on the radio with a police
officer in Berea.

Cuyahoga County officials hope to solve this problem by using a new
round of federal homeland security grants to build a countywide
communications web, linking police, firefighters, paramedics and
public-health workers in case of a terrorist attack or other calamity.

Tom Ridge, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Gov.
Bob Taft will visit Cleveland today to announce the distribution of more

than $100 million in federal grants for Ohio to assist front-line
responders like police and firefighters. About $15.3 million of that is
coming to
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, according to state and local officials.

County officials don't want to use the money to buy new radios for all
of the area's cities and suburbs. But they are looking for ways to
connect
existing radio systems that often work on different frequencies, said
Murray Withrow, manager of the county's Division of Emergency Services.

In addition to a countywide communications network, local officials also

want to buy protective suits for every police officer in the county in
case of a biological or chemical attack, and provide additional training
for
police to respond to large-scale weapons.

"This funding gets down to the local level to make sure our people have
the equipment and the training to respond," Withrow said. "We are the
ones that are going to be on the scene" of an emergency.

The county's $15.3 million is an increase of 58 percent over last year's

homeland security money of $9.7 million. In addition, the Regional
Transit
Authority will receive $800,000 this year for barriers, video
surveillance
cameras and other security equipment for the Rapid train system.

The Homeland Security Department is distributing nearly $3 billion to
the
states this year, including $725 million set aside for metropolitan
areas -
among them Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus.

The grants will be managed by Cuyahoga County's emergency services
division, which has put together a 62-member advisory board to decide
exactly how to spend it. The board includes a representative or proxy
for
every one of the county's 59 communities, and is divided into 10
specialized committees.

Ultimately, local officials would like to build a new emergency
operations
center, replacing the current one downtown. But that would require local

money as well, Withrow said. Though Homeland Security money could be
used to design a new facility and buy equipment, the money can't be used

to buy land or construct a building.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email-masked], 216-999-4927

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1080906920252910.xml

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