Editorial: Plan should reflect area’s greater risk

Friday, Jan. 9, 2004 | 5:24 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

January 10 - 11, 2004

Last year the federal government named Las Vegas as being among the 48 urban areas in the country that are the most likely to be targets of terrorists. The designation earned Las Vegas an additional $10.5 million in federal security funding. This money was badly needed but hardly adequate for a city that federal anti-terrorism officials frequently express concern about. The concern was heightened during the recent holidays. Federal security forces, including military troops, augmented an already unprecedented amount of state and local police assigned to the New Year's Eve celebrations on the Strip and downtown.

With all the attention that's been focused on Las Vegas, including testimony at a terrorism trial in Detroit last year that Las Vegas had been singled out as a target, there should now be no dispute about how federal homeland security money is divided in this state. In the first round of federal grants after Sept. 11, a state committee awarded Northern Nevada law enforcement agencies the largest portion. This was corrected in the second round, after Clark County Sheriff Bill Young rightfully made it an issue and the committee had been replaced by the Nevada Homeland Security Commission.

The 2004 federal homeland security grant for Nevada amounts to $26.5 million. The commission will recommend a spending plan to Gov. Kenny Guinn and Nevada Chief of Emergency Management Frank Siracusa, who will forward a final plan to the Homeland Security Department by Jan. 31. We hope to see a plan based on these facts: Las Vegas has two-thirds of the state's population, the highest concentration of tourists and certainly the highest risk of any area in the state. While none of the state's population centers should be neglected, it's obvious that Las Vegas should receive the overwhelming share of the funding.