Security measures require hard decisions, leader says

CLEARWATER -- U.S. troops have been fighting in Afghanistan for more than three months, but Florida's battle against terrorism is just getting started -- in the Legislature.

Florida law enforcement agencies are seeking legislative funding for at least part of a $42-million wish list of, among other items, "mass casualty incident response units," "mobile air curtain incinerators for disposal of diseased animal carcasses," biohazard-proof suits and antiterror training.

All of it would be helpful in the event of a terrorist attack -- some of it downright crucial. But in a speech to the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club on Wednesday, the Tampa Bay regional director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement acknowledged that his agency and others are seeking a large chunk from a small pie.

"We have an education system that hurts as well as these domestic security issues," said Jim Sewell. "We have some hard decisions to make."

Sewell was a last-minute Tiger Bay substitute for Steve Lauer, the FDLE's new chief of domestic security initiatives. Lauer was stuck in Tallahassee, lobbying legislators for the money necessary for the plans he, Sewell and local law enforcement agencies have drafted since Sept. 11.

Shortly after that day, Gov. Jeb Bush directed FDLE Commissioner James T. "Tim" Moore to draft a plan to protect the state and respond to potential threats.

Until then, the word "terrorist" had always conjured a different image for Sewell, who joined the FDLE in 1980 and served as Gulfport police chief from 1986 to 1990 before ultimately returning to the FDLE.

"Twenty years ago, when I was chief of intelligence (at FDLE), we never thought of terrorists of the foreign kind coming to our shores," Sewell recalled. "We were fat, dumb and happy."

The strategic plan prepared by the FDLE for Bush and the Legislature is heavy on providing fire, emergency and police officials with the equipment and training they need for nuclear or biological attacks.

Working with places like St. Petersburg College, they want to train 80,000 police, fire and paramedic personnel, who might respond first to an attack, in protecting themselves and recognizing the danger.

They also want $8.4-million to outfit 38,000 law enforcement officers with booties, gloves and respiratory protection so they would be prepared for attacks. Another $1.3-million would go toward buying the best protection available for selected first responders in seven regions in Florida.

Some of the money will have to come from local taxes, the rest from the state and federal government.

"It will be an expensive proposition," Sewell said. "That will mean shifting priorities. Quite honestly, it will be up to the appropriate legislatures, both state and Congress."

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