Sheriff skeptical about grant

A Homeland Security grant of nearly $1.5 million isn't making Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont feel more secure.

It's one of three federal grants, totaling $2.6 million, announced by the Montana Board of Crime Control recently.

The "Northern Tier Interoperability Project" is about as unwieldy as it sounds, Dupont said.

The idea is to pay for radio systems for 11 northern counties and four Indian reservations.

The grant will pay for portable and mobile radios, radios for a control station and software to program secure radio channels, according to a press release from Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath.

The communications system will allow local law enforcement and emergency services to talk to U.S. Border Patrol, customs officers, and other federal officials.

"These are huge undertakings, but it is essential that local, state, federal and tribal agencies be able to talk to one another," McGrath said. "A coordinated system will improve every agency's ability to respond to natural disasters, forest fires or threats to homeland security."

But Dupont said the grant will be used as start-up money for high-end radio towers intended for a P25 radio station to be launched by 2012.

"It will be upwards of $5 million for the radios," he said.

The portable radios his deputies use cost about $800, he said. The new P25 radios will cost about $3,000 each. Similarly, mobile radios in patrol cars cost about $2,800. The new versions will be about $5,000 apiece, Dupont said.

He doesn't want to see local departments like his stuck with huge radio costs down the line after the towers are built.

Dupont also wants to know who will maintain the equipment and at what cost.

In theory, it sounds good for local officials to be able to communicate directly and privately with federal agents.

But he's skeptical about how that's going to happen and how it's going to happen by 2012.

"I don't like the rush," Dupont said.