In the decade since 9/11, authorities in Glendale, Peoria and Surprise have received more than $7 million to combat terrorism and disasters.

Federal Urban Areas Security Initiative grants have helped the three cities buy robots for SWAT officers, hazardous materials trucks for firefighters and paid the bill for hundreds of hours of training. The grants made up the majority of Homeland Security money doled out to cities after the terrorist attacks.

But the funding that helped the Phoenix area ramp up its anti-terrorism efforts has steadily dropped in the past five years and federal budget concerns have led to questions about whether the money will continue to be available at all.

Phoenix area may lose federal funds for security



Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that cities including Tucson, Sacramento and Kansas City, would no longer receive funding from the Urban Areas grant program.

If the Phoenix area is also cut - it was targeted and then restored in recent budget proposals - budget-strapped Valley cities will be forced to foot the bill for repairs, new security purchases and training.

West Valley police and fire officials say they don't think cuts would cripple their operations but said they could be faced with difficult decisions as items break down or become outdated. They realized the grants wouldn't last forever and planned for repairs and upgrades, although local public-safety officials provided no clear cost. "We're not going to move backward in our level of preparation," said Chris DeChant, an assistant fire chief in Glendale. "The question is, how are we going to continue to adapt?"

Glendale gets WV's first grants

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, federal officials were determined to help U.S. cities prepare for the worst. They realized regional responses were crucial in the wake of a disaster and so the Urban Areas grants went to large cities and the smaller ones surrounding them.

Glendale was the first in the West Valley to receive funding around 2004. Early purchases included a 53-foot mobile command center filled with computers, phones and radio equipment. Police and fire use the nearly $215,000 mobile center to coordinate responses to situations, whether a possible bomb threat or a football game with large crowds.

Grant money also went to training. The city in the first round received nearly $110,000 in training for police and firefighters responding to hazardous materials and explosives incidents.

In a 2007 grant worksheet, Glendale authorities emphasized the need to prepare for next year's Super Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium.

"The upcoming Super Bowl XLII, held in Glendale, places the city in a global spotlight and emphasizes the requirement for a strong continuity plan," a Glendale official wrote. "As the city of Glendale grows in the national spotlight, the threat of foreign and domestic terrorism grows as well."

Records show the city later used at least $550,000 in grant dollars to add cameras and protective metal posts at Westgate City Center in advance of the 2008 game.

"It would have been very simple for someone to accidentally or intentionally drive into those crowds and cause very serious injury or death so the bollards were put in to assist in those special events that occur there," Glendale police Lt. Chris Briggs said.

Surveillance tools purchased with federal funds, including a 25-foot towerwas manned by police to monitor stadium crowds. The price tag was more than $85,000.

Peoria

Peoria's earliest grant funds in 2005 were used to protect city facilities and provide radios and gear-packed trucks to the city's terrorism liaison officers, who work with others on regional security.

In 2008, the city used nearly $750,000 in grant funds to train and outfit a new hazardous materials team.

The team's gear and trucks are used for routine calls. For instance, Peoria firefighters are able to plug most natural gas leaks on their own, Peoria fire Battalion Chief Tom Pendley said.

The Peoria police SWAT team also benefited from grants. The team got robots that can capture footage and sound inside a suspect's home during a high-risk search warrant or barricade situation, and an armored vehicle police say is used during about 90 percent of SWAT calls. Last year, Peoria's SWAT team responded to 10 incidents. So far this year, the squad has been deployed 22 times, Lt. Steve Hadley, a Peoria police spokesman, said.

He said the vehicle protects officers from possible gunfire and could help police get victims out of an area safely.

Glendale used grant funds to get a similar vehicle in 2006.

Hadley said having several police armored vehicles in the Valley allows police to descend upon multiple locations at once to make arrests or execute search warrants without suspects tipping one another off to the police action.

Surprise

Surprise police will be the latest West Valley agency to get an armored vehicle, valued at more than $275,000.

For Surprise, available funds have trickled out more slowly. The city is the last in the Valley to receive significant funding from the Department of Homeland Security.

When the grants first rolled out, Surprise was too small to qualify and was too understaffed to assign employees to pursue federal dollars, Surprise Fire Chief Mike White said.

That didn't stop the Fire Department from ramping up its anti-terrorism response. In 2002, Surprise created a hazardous materials team without federal funds after a cost-benefit analysis. The city spent $95,000 over two years on equipment and training.

Fire officials were concerned residents could be at risk from the regular transport of hazardous materials through Surprise along the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway, Grand Avenue and Loop 303. White said if a spill or train derailment occurred in the far western reaches of Surprise, chemicals and gases could spread before Glendale or Peoria hazmat crews could respond.

Seven years after Surprise created its hazardous materials team, the city received about $600,000 in Urban Areas grants to buy a vehicle and supplies for the group.

Fire officials say the vehicle, a truck meant to respond to chemical or radiological issues, responds to about 100 calls a year. Last month, the truck responded to a propane fire in Buckeye and a report of a suspicious chemical-filled bucket in the middle of a Glendale intersection.

Going forward

For years, the grant funds helped Valley public-safety agencies purchase items to aid in the federal terrorism-fighting mission.

Valley officials say they long realized the cash wouldn't last forever. Some expect the grant program's expiration is fast approaching.

Police in Glendale, Peoria and Surprise expect to rely on contingency funds or asset forfeiture funds, money seized by authorities, if they must replace worn-out gear.

Minor upgrades or fixes will have to be covered in the police department budget.

Rocky Smith, deputy police chief in Peoria, said he thinks most police forces will use asset forfeiture funds because the cost of some items may be difficult to cover in an annual budget.

"We're anticipating having to replace a lot of this equipment," he said.

Although repairs and maintenance are ongoing, Smith said it should be years before replacements are needed. Surprise police Lt. John Bacon said his department is hopeful the City Council will support police when they need to replace large items.

Officials in each city's fire department expect to absorb the costs in their annual budgets.

Prioritization will become increasingly important, DeChant said.

The challenge, he said, is that much of the equipment received through the grants gets regular use.

"Unlike some of the grants I've seen, it's not sit it on the shelf and do not touch," he said.

White agreed.

He said he hopes politicians will recall what inspired them to invest in the equipment years ago as they consider cuts to grant funding or costs to replace equipment.

"A lot of the policy makers are starting to forget that our country is still under attack," White said. "Something is going to happen and then when it does, the public demands that we be ready to respond."

Reporter Richard Ruelas contributed to this story.