Posted on Thu, Sep. 14, 2006

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SLED chief says South Carolina security grants cut by half

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's share of federal Homeland Security grants will be cut in half this year, State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said Thursday.

At a Cabinet meeting with Gov. Mark Sanford, Stewart said he'll announce about $14.6 million in grants next week, "which is about half of what we've been getting."

But Stewart said the grants in the past had been awarded on a population basis, rather than based on needs of local law enforcement agencies.

"This year we're running purely on a risk basis," Stewart said. "It was time for that to happen. It needed to happen."

Local police agencies received three grants since 2003 intended to take care of basic needs, Stewart said.

Their share was part of the more than $300 million sent to South Carolina since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

About a quarter of that money went to communications gear and about a third to the Department of Health and Environmental Control for lab facilities and vaccines and to enhance inspection programs for food, hospitals and mail. About $40 million paid for equipment at fire departments and Port of Charleston security.

"It almost got to the point they couldn't think of something else to buy," Stewart said.

Every county got to pick what they needed, Stewart said, and it had to meet the state's tiered strategy of dealing with a disaster or terrorist attack.

At a minimum, local governments now should all be "able to hold the fort until help gets there," Stewart said.