Texas Homeland Security Grants to Focus on Technology

Texas Gov. Rick Perry today announced that federal homeland security dollars this year will be awarded to local communities based on two priorities designed to prevent terrorism and criminal activities in the state.

"The recent news of the foiled terrorist plot designed to kill thousands of innocent men, women and children on flights to the United States underscores that we must remain vigilant against and ongoing terrorist threat," Perry said. "The size and scope of the planned operation underscores the fact that Texas must continue to prioritize how federal homeland security funds are spent so that we do all we can to ensure the safety of Texans."

Perry earlier this year directed his Homeland Security Office to establish the main law enforcement needs to help secure Texas and prioritize use of federal dollars for those activities.
As a result, the 2006 funds will focus on two technological needs:

• The Texas Data Exchange System (TDEx), a Web-based secure network that connects more than 2,200 law enforcement databases in the state, including federal law enforcement databases. The TDEx is already operational but not all law enforcement officers have access to it at this time. Homeland security grant funds will be used to pay the user fees so that each of the more than 70,000 police officers in Texas have access to the criminal background and law enforcement information they need, and that all appropriate local law enforcement databases are part of the TDEx network.
  
  There are several information technology initiatives around the nation that co-locate multiple law enforcement databases and connect systems in various cites, but Texas is the first state to connect databases statewide. TDEx also has an alert feature so that police officers are immediately notified as soon as information related to their investigations is added to the database.
• Live Scan electronic fingerprint technology. This technology enables law enforcement to submit fingerprint data and receive results in seconds rather than days, ensuring that dangerous felons and fugitives using fictitious names are not released back into the community. Live Scan also enables law enforcement to identify and locate subjects of unsolved crimes, and it ensures that individuals identified as known or suspected terrorists are not released when they are detained for criminal violations. Several police departments in Texas have already benefited from the use of this technology, rapidly identifying suspected violent criminals. By prioritizing the use of homeland security dollars on this technology, the state will extend this capability to the 184 Texas counties that currently do not have it.

"In the post 9-11 environment, these technologies are important for the safety of Texans, and they build on the priorities Texas established in its Homeland Security Strategic Plan," Perry said. "Information sharing between law enforcement agencies is the foundation of a secure homeland, and these priorities allow Texas to build that foundation."

Last year Perry prioritized use of homeland security grants for radio interoperability. As a result, Texas is on schedule to achieve statewide radio interoperability by January 2007, a significant accomplishment in a state the size and diversity of Texas. Radio interoperability allows law enforcement agencies and first responders to communicate with each other, even when they operate on different radio frequencies.

For 2006, Texas received $85.8 million in federal homeland security funding, including Urban Area Security Initiative grants. That is a 31 percent cut from the $124.9 million Texas received in 2005.