Security grants come with a price

AUGUSTA – Like their counterparts across the country, Maine police and emergency agencies have been getting millions of dollars in federal grants in order to purchase robots, laptop computers and other high-tech equipment to fight terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks six years ago. Now they are finding there is a local price tag to keep all that gear operating.

“If something breaks, we have to fix it,” said Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia recently. “Another issue is the training needed to keep up to date with the equipment.”

Bangor and state police each received a $150,000 federal grant to buy sophisticated robots used by both the bomb squad and the special response team in each agency. It allows police to defuse a bomb remotely or assess a hostage situation without undue risk to police officers.

“There is ongoing training we have on some of the equipment, and we have people that are new and need to be trained,” said Maj. Dale Lancaster of the Maine State Police. “On maintenance, we have to maintain equipment just like we do the cruisers and all of the equipment we have.”

He said the state police budget does not distinguish between maintenance costs for equipment acquired through federal grants from the equipment purchased by the state. Gastia said his department also does not consider such maintenance costs separately.

“We had the robot break down and it has to be repaired,” he said. “And I hope it is not expensive because it’s not in the budget, and we will have to find the money.”

Maine agencies have received at least $44 million in federal grants for security-related equipment since 2003, according to the Maine Emergency Management Agency. Miscellaneous grants have also been used in Maine, adding to the total.

It is not just police agencies that have received grants for equipment. Fire and emergency services have received grants to buy everything from communications equipment to breathing apparatus that need updating and training in their use.

“On some things we have worked around some of the problems,” said Detective Chris Harriman, leader of the state police bomb squad. “But training is always something we have to do no matter what the piece of equipment.”

Like many bomb squads across the country, the state police received a laptop loaded with data on explosives and explosive devices. The so-called “Cobra Kits” included a three-year subscription for wireless Internet access which ran out, leaving local communities and states to pick up the cost.

“We still access the database and updates,” Harriman said. “But we do it on our own computers.”

Members of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee say it’s an emerging issue and will have to be reviewed as budgets are considered in the future at all levels of government.

“We have to be able to look ahead and see how valuable are they,” said Sen. Bill Diamond, co-chairman of the panel. “Are they worth the maintenance costs that go with them, and if they are then we have to plan ahead for the maintenance costs so they do not hit us by surprise.”

He expects that many of the various types of equipment that have been purchased with federal grants are important to the mission of law enforcement and are worth maintaining, and he would support a budget for that, but he said that is a policy-making exercise that has not been done for the millions of dollars of equipment that has come into the state.

Sen. Roger Sherman, R-Houlton, a ranking GOP member of the panel, said it is not just equipment grants that concern him. He said both local and state law enforcement agencies are taking on additional responsibilities for homeland security.

“I just recently heard a presentation from the state police dive team,” he said. “They are more involved with the Coast Guard and checking ships coming into Portland. They say that means more training and replacing equipment, and I think the federal government should be paying for some of that.”

Sherman agreed with Diamond that the committee needs to look into the issue, and he said local governments also need to be concerned about the costs of maintaining and updating equipment. He said a review should also look at the increasing cost of homeland security activities to state and local governments.