Shutdown of 'lifeline' to hit rural police forces hard

[flashl]

A federally funded computer service that has connected thousands of rural police to critical Internet and e-mail access is shutting down at the end of the month, jeopardizing service for 1,500 users in at least 20 states, police officials say.

Police agencies in the most isolated parts of rural America will be hardest hit, says Comanche Nation Police Chief Vernon Griffin. They use the service to solicit help for such basic operations as preparing search warrants and responding to officer fatalities.

"For some departments, this service is a lifeline," says Dallas, Ore., Chief Jim Harper, a 10-year program member who oversees an 18-officer force. "People don't realize how many small agencies are trying to take care of business day-to-day with very little."

The program, known as the Tribal Rural Law Enforcement Internet Project, has operated in some form since 1995. It is based at the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement at the University of Arkansas. Program manager Jimmy Nobles says members are "beside themselves" at the prospect of losing it.

USA Today

[gateley]

1. Bushco is shutting down or cutting back on every single federal

agency/program he can find to keep shoveling money into our quest for oil in the ME.

[pegleg]

2. And this damned war has cost us has cost us 3/4 of a trillion

with no end in sight

[MadMaddie]

3. And this is part of * cabal plan to destroy any standing police

forces support. Internet is not that expensive...

[grasswire]

4. tinfoil alert

This is kind of creepy, isolating local authorities at a time when privatized forces are being hired for domestic tasks.