AUGUSTA (AP) – A state task force created to review Maine’s public health and safety plans for disasters heard Monday that communications within and among government agencies must be a top preparedness priority.
Civil defense and law enforcement officials expressed willingness at the state and local level to cooperate in addressing emergencies.
“Generally, we know each other by first names,” said the chief of the Maine state police, Col. Craig Poulin.
But the state’s small population, which is a bonus when it comes to cooperation, works against the state when it comes to fiscal resources. And that problem can be compounded, speakers told the panel, when major projects arise.
Public safety officials said the emergency communications system on which state police rely is three decades old and overdue for upgrading.
“It’s failing, falling apart,” Poulin said, adding that lawmakers have taken initial steps toward financing a necessary modernization.
The issue is critical, Poulin told members of the Task Force to Study Maine’s Homeland Security Needs.
“If you can’t talk, you’re blind in this business,” Poulin said.
The task force, which met for the first time Monday, was established by legislation sponsored by Senate President Beth Edmonds. Its review will cover a variety of areas, from law enforcement and emergency preparedness to public health.
Maj. Gen. John Libby, who heads the Maine National Guard and Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, cited “giant steps” forward in preparedness over the past 10 years, citing specifically a lessening of interagency tensions.
In written testimony, Libby said that “in a modestly resourced state like Maine, no one agency can do everything. Our strength is our ability to put turf aside and work together creatively to ensure the safety of our state and its citizens.”
The task force, whose members were appointed by Edmonds, House Speaker John Richardson and Gov. John Baldacci, is being chaired by Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, and Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick.
Director Arthur Cleaves of the Maine Emergency Management Agency said in his testimony that Maine may not face the same level of homeland security risk as New York City. But potential risks – from weapons in schools to workplace violence – cannot be ignored, he said.
“The same specialized skills and equipment that we might need to respond to an attack planned by a foreign enemy, we need every day in this state, as in all others. Violence is no respecter of statistics, or probability,” Cleaves said. “Neither is nature.”
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