Americans look to their government for direction and protection in times of peril. So when they were advised recently by federal officials to seal off a room in their homes in preparation for biological or chemical attacks, they responded.

“...all Americans should hope that the police, fire and emergency response personnel they rely on when disaster strikes will get the help they need from their federal government.”

Within hours, store shelves had been cleared of the duct tape and plastic sheeting they had been advised to use. Lengthy accounts of the run on duct tape and other recommended material--and the fears of Americans for their safety--appeared in national and local news reports.

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Those of us responsible for public safety at the local level, including mayors, police and fire and emergency-response officials, would never suggest that citizens not take prudent stops to protect themselves and their families from potential danger in any form. But we find it ironic that this federal self-protection alert comes at the same time that the federal government is cutting its funding for local public safety functions--the very functions that citizens look to for protection when they feel threatened--and is doing this in the name of homeland security.

Two weeks ago, the President sent Congress a budget proposal for next fiscal year that lists several homeland security initiatives. Among these are state domestic preparedness grants totaling over $ 2.5 billion to provide equipment, exercises, strategic planning and support to the national training and exercise program. The budget also proposes $ 500 million to meet the anti-terrorism needs of state and local law enforcement agencies, and $ 500 million for firefighter preparedness.

These homeland security initiatives, unfortunately, are offset by a proposed 90 percent cut in the current $ 1.3 billion Community Oriented Policing Services program (COPS), and the complete elimination of the $ 400 million Local Law Enforcement Block Grant and the $ 595 million Edward Byrne Grant program All of these programs have had great value in keeping cities safe ever the past several years. The budget proposes to replace these with a much smaller $ 586 million Justice Assistance Block Grant that has yet to be defined for us.

Seventeen months after the terrorist attacks on the nation, local governments have yet to receive any federal help in covering the billions of dollars of homeland security costs they have incurred. In recent weeks we learned that the $ 3.5 billion in "first responder" grants that had been promised again and again by the Administration throughout the past year will actually consist of funds provided through existing justice and disaster assistance programs, not additional new grant funding.

We also learned that Congress is not waiting until next year to begin cutting local public safety funding. This year's federal spending bill, which was finally approved by Congress a couple weeks age (more than four months into the current fiscal year), cut Community Oriented Policing Services by $ 200 million.

Local leaders hope that all Americans will get the duct tape and other materials they need and visit the new government readiness website (www.ready. gov) to feel they are prepared for what may come. At the same time, all Americans should hope that the police, fire and emergency response personnel they rely on when disaster strikes will get the help they need from their federal government.

This nation's homeland security system needs much more than duct tape to hold it together.

© Copyright 2003, The National League of Cities.