In 2005, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to better prepare small communities to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks. The Office of Grants and Training created the Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program to provide law enforcement technologies directly to smaller jurisdictions throughout the United States. Law Enforcement Agencies and other emergency responder agencies are eligible to receive selected equipment items and systems.
One of CEDAP’s central goals is to assist jurisdictions that cannot afford to purchase state of the art equipment for their roles in these important homeland security missions.
NMPD and WCSD both were accepted through grants to receive night vision goggles. The program provided Chief Cecil and Deputy Spragg with the very best training on their new equipment in a session in Orlando. These classes are structured as “train the trainer” to allow Chief Cecil and Deputy Spragg to provide quality instruction to other members of NMPD and WCSD upon their return.
All program costs and travel were covered by the federal government. A special thanks goes to grant writers Dispatcher Rick Estep for the NMPD and Adult Probation Officer Butch Lantz for the WCSD. Without them, the training and equipment would not have been possible for the local agencies.