Indiana delegates $54 million in homeland grants

Gov. Joseph Kernan approved a multi-million dollar grant to be divided among several counties in Indiana, aiming to improve the emergency systems for several counties in Indiana. \nKernan said his goal is to have all the counties in Indiana to be prepared for the worst and to be able to immediately handle a terrorist attack should one ever take place. \n"The governor wants the grant to be used for preparation instead of a response to an immediate crisis," said Lisa Sirkin, spokeswoman for the governor's office. \nKernan announced this week that a majority of the $14.5 million grant will be spent on first response teams like firefighters, police officers and emergency management officials. \n"Gov. Kernan wants first response teams to have the necessary tools to handle a crisis effectively," Sirkin said. "These teams are the first ones to an emergency, and it's important that they have access to all tools they need."\nThe money was part of a $54 million federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The rest of the federal grant will be divided among the counties.\nThree million dollars will be set aside for statewide initiatives that will benefit all counties by helping to create 10 new district planning councils, an automatic fingerprinting system and a new facility called Fusion Center. Projected to open in 2005, the Fusion Center will be a facility that will gather and analyze intelligence information. Indiana State Police, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, will be able to analyze and share information about threats that might affect Indiana. \nFor the grant to be divided, representatives from county public safety agencies filled out grant applications in May. Each county's grant amount was based on risk analysis, which was composed of population, elevated infrastructure and service agencies. While the state of Indiana received $54 million this year, the federal government is planning to reduce future funding by 40 percent, according to a Kernan press release.\nThe governor plans to ask Congress to maintain or increase funding for the 2005 fiscal year. \n"Gov. Kernan wants to maintain the $54 million grant or have the amount increased by Homeland Security," Sirkin said. "He would also like to improve the state's bioterrorism grants and have the state's port security improved."\nIndiana has more than 400 miles of waterways that are heavily traveled. Kernan said he would like to have port security greatly improved by the end of 2005. \n"Indiana has several high-risk areas, which are a concern to the Governor," said Earl Morgan, director of the Counter Terrorism Security Council for Indiana. "Nuclear, radioactivity hazards and biohazards are all major threats that citizens of Indiana could face."\nMorgan believes that the $14.5 million grant will help 38 specific counties become better prepared for a terrorist attack. \n"The grant will allow these counties to reach their goals on preparations. However, there isn't enough money to stop all possible threats," he said.\nMorgan said the overall $54 million grant given by Homeland Security was extremely necessary for the state. \n"The entire state is at security level yellow, and we need to understand what is going on around us," he said. "We need to be focused and ready to handle any type of threat. With the grant from Homeland Security, Indiana can now be better prepared." \nSenior Arec Simeri lives in Elkhart County, one of the 38 to receive individual federal funding through the $14.5 grant.\n"It's great that emergency city officials will have (the) right tools to take care of a terrorist attack," Simeri said.\nSimeri believes the funding by Homeland Security is great, but long overdue. \n"It's good that Indiana is receiving the money they need to upgrade our cities' protection," he said. "But I think the state should have done these upgrades right after Sept. 11, 2001." \n-- Contact staff writer Nick Pittman at npittman@indiana.edu