Border sheriffs join together for money
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
El Paso Times
July 9, 2007

AUSTIN -- Eighteen departments that make up the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition plan to band together in their appeals for state money to fight border crime, law enforcement officials said today.
"We believe that as a coalition we are proposing a regional solution to a national problem," said Donald Reay, Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition executive director.

This year, lawmakers set aside about $110 million in the state budget for border security over the next two years.

With the advice of a Border Security Council, Gov. Rick Perry, will dole out about $57 million of that amount to local law enforcement.

Reay said of that $57 million, about $17 million is meant for grants to help local departments pay officers for overtime and training and purchase equipment.

Although the sheriffs will have to compete for the money with other agencies, Reay said by applying as a coalition the departments might stand a better chance to get a large portion of the $17 million.

"By combining together, we believe that it will have, as we have already proven, a synergistic effect for law enforcement," he said.

Since 2005, Perry has given the sheriffs more than $10 million in grants to pay for overtime and purchase equipment for border security operations.

Reay said the sheriffs had hoped for more money and for grants that would allow them to hire more full-time deputies.

The sheriffs had prepared a combined budget of about $27 million, he said, that would have allowed the 18 departments to hire more than 100 new deputies.

Lawmakers, though, only allowed for grant money to pay for overtime.

"We are working people to the nth-degree as it is on overtime," Reay said.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said hiring more officers is a local responsibility, not a duty for the state.

In the budget, about $46 million is planned for the Texas Department of Public Safety, state law enforcement, to hire officers, buy helicopters and set up tactical units to target border crime.

"Lawmakers did not want to put hundreds of sheriffs' deputies on the state payroll," Shapleigh said.

Border sheriffs can also apply individually for another $40 million in grant funds that Perry will be able to award for border security operations.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Glancey said the department would likely also seek funding to participate in those operations.

He added, though, that it was too soon to know just how much money the department might get, because the grant applications are not yet available.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he would probably only apply for grants through the coalition.

"I think it would be double dipping," he said.

Criteria for the grants and parameters for the Border Security Council that will advise the governor about distributing them are still under development, said Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/breakingnews/ci_6334417