Local officials discuss Homeland Security needs

By Lance Griffin

Published: August 11, 2008

A new school security system, a bomb detection dog and an ion scanning device are among the items on the wish list for local emergency response officials who want their share of $430,000 in Homeland Security money.

Several officials including the superintendent of Houston County Schools and Dothan’s police and fire chiefs met with other area representatives to talk about the best way to spend an allocation from the Department of Homeland Security. A total of $430,714 is scheduled to be allocated to a 10-county area in Southeast Alabama, to be spent on emergency response and other security-related issues.

Houston County Emergency Management Agency Director Clark Matthews said school security and detection of improvised explosive devices were two areas of emphasis stressed by Homeland Security this year.

Houston County Superintendent of Schools Tim Pitchford said the system’s long-range plan is to place security systems at every school. Currently, only
Rehobeth High School has a security system complete with security cameras. Pitchford requested a system for Houston County High School. He estimated the cost between $35,000 and $40,000.

Other items requested include a combination search and rescue/bomb detection dog for Dothan ($6,000), an ion scanning device for Dothan ($23,000), tri-band radio for Dale County’s emergency response helicopter and additional equipment to assist confined space rescue operations in Henry County ($12,000).

Matthews said those items and others on the wish list would be discussed with requests from other counties at the area’s regional meeting next week in Coffee County, when a final list of items would be determined.

The items, other than the school security system, are to be shared with other counties in the region when an emergency arises. Counties include Houston, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Butler, Barbour and Pike.