El Paso gets $5.4M grant to improve planning in case of terror attack, disaster

By David Burge
El Paso Times
Posted: 06/18/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- A $5.4 million federal grant awarded to the city of El Paso is designed to help law enforcement agencies avoid some of the mistakes made in New York City during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, officials announced Wednesday.

The money is for fiscal year 2009, which will start on Sept. 1, and will be used to improve communication between various law-enforcement agencies in the region; to create a tactical "fusion" center in which intelligence from state, local and federal agencies can be shared and analyzed; and to buy and coordinate standardized breathing equipment to be used by local fire departments.

The city of El Paso will spearhead a regional effort to improve planning and communication in case of a terrorist attack or disaster, Mayor John Cook said.

Assistant El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said the grant will help local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies "prepare, coordinate and respond together to any unusual occurrence whether it's a terrorist attack or natural disaster."

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, announced the grant on Wednesday. During the past three years, the city has received nearly $17 million under the U.S. Homeland Security Department's Urban Area Security Initiative.

El Paso has some potentially attractive targets for terrorists, such as Fort Bliss and the international bridges, said Vincent Perez, Reyes' press secretary.

Fort Bliss is expected to nearly double its number of soldiers to 34,000 in the next four years, Perez said, making it the fourth-largest military base in the country.

The so-called fusion intelligence center will allow local, state and federal agencies to better share information on criminal organizations, such as Mexican drug cartels or gangs, and alleged terrorist groups, Pacillas said.

"It's a lot better if we can go out and prevent this stuff than have to respond to it," Pacillas said.

The grant will also be used for regional planning on how to respond to a disaster or attack, on public education and on a regional medical operations center that will have direct communication with local hospitals.

Regional planning will include the Tiguas, smaller municipalities and unincorporated parts of the county, Cook said, and the grant would help that effort if a consultant needed to be hired.

One of the main goals of the grant money will be to make sure that law-enforcement officials from different agencies can communicate during an emergency, Cook said.

"If you go back to what happened in 9/11 in New York, the fire department couldn't talk with the police department, and they couldn't talk with the subway police," Cook said. "It caused major problems."

Cook said the plan is to make sure that regional law-enforcement officials can communicate on compatible radio systems, computers and BlackBerries.

"It's not just city police and the sheriff, but the Tiguas, the school districts, the community college and the university all have police departments," Cook said. "All need to be able to communicate in the event of an emergency."

In the past two years, the El Paso Police Department has improved its ability to communicate with the Sheriff's Office, state police and federal law-enforcement, such as the Border Patrol, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, Pacillas said.

The next step is to improve communication with police departments at school districts, El Paso Community College, the University of Texas at El Paso and smaller municipalities, Pacillas said.

The grant will also help local fire departments buy self-contained breathing equipment that will be standardized across the region, Cook said.

"What you have out there is all different kinds of equipment," Cook said. "Especially in the volunteer fire departments, some of it is very antiquated.

"Here's the challenge: In a real disaster emergency, we may have to loan equipment to someone else, say the Socorro Fire Department. If our equipment is different than theirs, they're trying to figure out in an emergency, how does this work?"

Another key component will create a regional medical operations center to improve communication with hospitals, Cook said.

"Right now, we have to get on the telephone and dial the main number for hospitals," Cook said. "This will give us dedicated communications lines from a dedicated operations center."

David Burge may be reached at dburge@elpasotimes.com; 546-6126.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12615737