Federal grant money will improve communication between Oklahomaâ€™s first-responders

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Much of the federal counterterrorism grants awarded to Oklahoma will go toward improving communications between emergency agencies.<br><br>Oklahoma's $32 million grant is part

Wednesday, April 21st 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Much of the federal counterterrorism grants awarded to Oklahoma will go toward improving communications between emergency agencies.

Oklahoma's $32 million grant is part of $2.2 billion in counterterrorism funds given to states, the District of Columbia and territories by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security this year.

About $15 million of Oklahoma's award is planned for "interoperable communications," said Maj. Kerry Pettingill, director of the state Office of Homeland Security, which will administer Oklahoma's grant.

The program will include wiring hardware and software, as well as installing radio towers.

With the new equipment, first-responder agencies throughout the state should be able to synchronize radio frequencies during an emergency, Pettingill said.

"It depends on the participation of local governments, their willingness," Pettingill said.

Other portions of the grant will fund Citizen Corps programs, which are mainly volunteer organizations, and Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention programs, said C. Suzanne Mencer, director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness, which is part of the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Oklahoma's allocation for Citizen Corps is $510,000, according to U.S. homeland security figures.

"Every incident is a local incident. That's where it starts, and that's where it ends," Mencer said.

Including the latest grant, Oklahoma has received $63 million in federal homeland security grants in the past three years, Mencer said.

In this round of grant awards, Mencer said urban areas got more grant dollars than mid-level states like Oklahoma.

California received the most, followed by Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.

Mencer said allocation of the awards took into consideration several factors.

"We look at vulnerability, population density and risk assessment," she said. "It's a complicated, measured process."