Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) presented Caldwell County with $352,000 in federal funding at a presentation ceremony in Lenoir this morning.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Law Enforcement Technology program, and will be used to enable the County’s participation in North Carolina’s Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER).

“An efficient emergency response depends on rapid communication and coordination,” said Congressman McHenry.  “With the VIPER program in place, the people of Caldwell County can be confident their fire, rescue, and law enforcement personnel will be working together effectively during times of need.”

“I remember two years ago when Sheriff Gary Clark first mentioned the need for this system to me,” said Congressman McHenry.  “Sheriff Alan Jones participated in that meeting.  Now two years later we are seeing the completion of that vision.  Sheriff Alan Jones has continued working to implement this important system and is giving us a sheriff's department we can all be proud of.”

Caldwell County requested federal support for this program, and Congressman McHenry secured it through the Commerce, Science, and Justice Appropriations Act of 2008, a bill that was included in the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2008.

“The funding the Congressman was able to get for us will enable the county to participate in the VIPER program without having to further strain our resources,” said Caldwell County Commissioner Faye Higgins.  “This is a big help in our effort to protect the citizens of Caldwell County by ensuring our emergency response and law enforcement agencies can communicate effectively.”

VIPER is designed to synthesize communications capabilities between law enforcement and fire and rescue agencies from multiple jurisdictions.  It provides temporary, on-demand channels of communication to emergency response personnel, which allows numerous agencies to coordinate disaster responses quickly and effectively.

“This funding is a tremendous help to the VIPER project and a great thing for Caldwell County,” said Caldwell County Sheriff Alan Jones.  “We have a harder time communicating in some of the outlying areas of the county, but with the VIPER system in place we’ll be able to communicate clearly and effectively with fire and rescue personnel throughout the county.”

Caldwell County, in partnership with the North Carolina Highway Patrol, is building a five-site radio system that will enhance current VHF radio paging capabilities for fire and rescue squads.  The County requested this funding to assist with the purchase of subscriber unites (mobile and portable communications devices) for the 800 MHz system.