State gives emergency funds

Police, firefighters, medical technicians and other emergency first responders in 45 counties throughout Indiana will receive a financial boost from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Gov. Joe Kernan announced Tuesday.\nSeven million dollars will be dispersed throughout Indiana to improve a statewide communications system network currently funded by the Integrated Public Safety Commission's Project Hoosier Safe-T. The system basically consists of communication towers, connectors and related components for interoperability. Local spending will include procuring the necessary equipment to access this statewide system -- an expensive endeavor, particularly for smaller counties, said IPSC Communications Director Sally Fay. The funds, which came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are administered by the IPSC and the State Emergency Management Agency.\nFay said the grant marks a satisfying result of several years of hard work and devotion to improving statewide security. \n"This is something we've had on the table for a long time. Frank O'Bannon was a champion of this program, as was Governor Kernan when he was lieutenant governor." Fay added that the events of September 11 intensified the need to improve statewide communication and moved the program up on the state's agenda. \nFay said terrain issues led to most of southwest Indiana's exclusion in the funding but plans to equip those areas are in the works.\nDavid Abel, a public information officer for emergency management in Batesville, Ind. (part of Ripley County, which will receive $272,000), said miscommunication is one of the most dangerous aspects of emergency response. \n"It's just like the old game where somebody says something and by the time it gets to other side of the room it's all been changed."\nIn a statement, Kernan said tens of thousands of first responders across the state are working to protect their fellow Hoosiers from harm.\n"From traffic accidents, high-speed chases, missing children and weather disasters to a full-scale terrorist attack, we must be ready and well equipped to take action instantly and seamlessly," Kernan said. "If our public safety protectors are unable to talk to one another to coordinate life-saving activities, lives can be lost." \nTina Noel, press secretary for the governor's office, said "the system is completely instrumental in a variety of situations. If a police officer, for example, needs to get in immediate touch with the fire department or a medical responder, this system will allow for that kind of quick-needed communication." \nFay said she believes Indiana is and will be viewed as a model for statewide interoperability and the IPSC hopes to implement not only statewide, but also interstate communication in the future. \n"Superintendent (Melvin) Carraway, SEMA Director Patrick Ralston and Indiana Counter-Terrorism and Security Council Director Clifford Ong have worked hard to make these grants a reality," Kernan said. "Because of their commitment and the commitment of our congressional delegation and state legislators, Hoosier first responders and the citizens they protect will be safer."\n-- Contact staff writer Jon Shoulders at jshoulde@indiana.edu.