In the years following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center the nation has seen many changes and security has become a constant concern for the American public.

Fortunately for county residents, area law enforcement agencies have spent time and money improving their communication systems and undergoing extensive training to ensure they are prepared for the worst.

Sheriff Dale Furr said his department has benefited tremendously since Sept. 11, 2001 because of federal grant money that has been made available for local law enforcement agencies through Homeland Security.

“It’s added some work to us because it raised the level of security throughout the U.S. as far as law enforcement for court houses and other public buildings,” Furr said regarding the actual event of Sept. 11. “But in retrospect we’ve received a lot of good equipment and money through the Homeland Security Act.”

The sheriff’s department received about $70,000 and has replaced some office computers, installed eight computers in department vehicles, purchased five MP4 machine guns and five ballistic helmets for the Special Response Team. The department also updated its communication system and received one new vehicle through additional grant money.

Furr said his Special Response Team has undergone extensive training since Sept. 11 as well, though it wasn’t through grant funding.

“It’s helped out law enforcement as a whole,” Furr said. “But it was tragic it had to come to that for the government to step in and get us equipment. It’s good they see we are the front-line of defense. We are, the police department, sheriff’s departments, we need that equipment. It doesn’t need to be stored where it will never be used because regardless of how much training an agency may have, the front-line of security for this country is the local law enforcement and it doesn’t matter if it’s a police officer in a one-stoplight-town, or if it’s the biggest police department in the country, that one officer is the front-line for security for his community for any kind of terrorist act.”

“(Sept. 11) caught everyone off guard, we didn’t think it could happen to us, but it made us realize more and more that it can happen and it’s made us more ready. Unfortunately it cost a lot of people their lives for our government to realize we need to beef up the front-line of security, which is local law enforcement.”

Chief Robert Voorhees of the Rockingham Police Department said his department was turned down for the federal money, but has managed to create a communications system that is capable of communicating with other agencies within the county, as well as neighboring counties with just the bush of a button.

“We have a good infrastructure of communications in place,” Voorhees said. “We’re not ready for any possible disaster, but we’re in good shape.”

Voorhees added that since Sept. 11, a lot of the federal reporting requirements have changed, which translates to the federal government saying they communicate more with local law enforcement.

“But most of the time if they send something, I’ve already seen it on one of the 24-hour news channels,” Voorhees said.

Voorhees explained that because Rockingham is such a centrally-located town, not a big metropolitan area, it isn’t high on the threat list.

“The only thing we’d be affected by is a regional attack on the food supply,” he explained. “That’s the type of issue we’d have to deal with here. There wouldn’t be a mass casualty event, more agricultural terrorism. But we have been trained and do have a system in place to combat that if necessary.”

A federal Joint Terrorism Task Force was established following Sept. 11 which many local law enforcement agencies are a part of, but Voorhees said no one in his department sits on that task force, but they do cooperate with them when necessary.

No matter the changes, both men agree that Sept. 11 changed the responsibilities and outlook of local law enforcement.

“I think it’s made every officer in this country aware that the unexpected can happen,” Furr said. “When I was watching it happen on the news that morning, I saw the two Twin Towers burning, and then I saw the first one collapse. I was with a few of my deputies in my office watching on TV and I made the statement that a lot of police and firemen just lost their lives.

“I think that it all just came to be a reality to all of us that the unexpected can happen. No matter where you are, or what department you’re with. Granted its more likely to happen in place like New York, but it could still happen right here in Richmond County. So it’s raised an awareness among law enforcement that we need to be better equipped and better trained — especially law enforcement leaders. We need to make our people more aware and never let them forget that it can happen to us.

“I think that’s what’s changed law enforcement. It certainly changed the way I look at things in law enforcement. It definitely has made the leaders, the chiefs, the sheriffs, more aware of things that can happen to people.”