There will be a steady stream of federal funds available to first responders to upgrade their communications systems beginning in 2009, according to a grants specialist.
Michael Paddock, chief executive officer of the consulting firm, Grants Office, said Congress will be doling out about $400 million per year to police, fire and other first responder departments to improve the interoperability of their communications systems.
Like many Department of Homeland Security administered grants, this money will be given to states before it is distributed to local communities.
That has caused problems in the past, he said. The public safety interoperable communications grant, a one-time infusion of $1 billion to boost local capacity, was criticized because many states held on to the funds for their own use. They generally didn’t do a good job of distributing the Congress’ largess to the local departments, Paddock said.
“You can’t just keep the money — you have to pass it down to the local level,” he said at a border security conference.
This year, only $55 million was distributed because the $1 billion was still filtering down. However, the annual grants will go up to $400 million in 2009, he said.