By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – A federal grant worth more than $17 million will help Missouri upgrade emergency communications throughout the state.
In all, 80% of the grant money will be available to county and city governments across Missouri, to purchase systems that use voice, text messaging, and video signals, and to train the emergency responders who'll use them.
"I think it will certainly help address the issues of having robust, inter-operable communications networks and systems in the state," noted Paul Fennewald, Missouri's Homeland Security Coordinator.
The remaining 20% of the grant money will be reserved for state-level emergency responders.
The federal money will come in the form of reimbursements of purchases made by local governments and state agencies.