Secret Service trains top Cape cop for threats

Next week, police chief Steve Strong will be in Washington, D.C., learning how to protect Cape Girardeau from terror threats to the area that nowadays aren't hard to imagine.

Strong has been selected to attend an all-expenses-paid, weeklong training session on homeland security in the new U.S. Secret Service Memorial Building April 5 to 9.

Strong said he expects to learn how local law enforcement agencies can work together with the Secret Service and other federal agencies on matters of threat assessment.

Among the subjects to be covered will be ways of protecting communities' cyber infrastructure and awareness of chemical and biological weapons.

The Department of Homeland Security was established March 2, 2003, and united 22 federal agencies including the Secret Service under one umbrella to protect the country better from threats of terrorism. The Secret Service was formerly part of the Treasury Department.

The Department of Homeland Security has spent $2.2 billion from the State Homeland Grant Program and $725 million from the Urban Area Security Initiative to help first responders learn how to protect their communities, says the department's Web site.

The Secret Service training Strong will get is part of this process.

"They will give instruction on the principles of threat assessment, how to go about conducting an investigation regarding that, and the specifics of targeted violence," Strong said.

When he returns, Strong said he will be able to pass along what he learned to his staff.

A 27-year veteran of the Cape Girardeau police department -- three of those as chief -- Strong said that it has become apparent since Sept. 11, 2001, how vulnerable Cape Girardeau could be in terms of a terrorist threat. Strong said he expects to learn how to best work with federal agencies to protect the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and the new federal courthouse building currently under construction.

Strong said the Secret Service special agent from the Eastern District of Missouri recommended him for the training session. He submitted some background information and was notified March 22 that he had been accepted.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

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