Franks Announces $6.3 Million Grant for Arizona Department of Public Safety

For Immediate Release
Contact: Bethany Haley or Ben Carnes at 202-225-4576

Franks Announces $6.3 Million Grant for Arizona Department of Public Safety

July 23, 2010 — Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) announced a grant in the amount of $6,397,877 for FY2011, awarded to the Arizona Department of Public Safety as a part of the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) Program/ Rocky Mountain Information Network (RMIN).

Congressman Trent Franks stated, "RMIN/RISS provides a vital life-saving and national security service to the people of Arizona and the nation as a whole. It has received bipartisan Congressional support for over thirty years, and has been a ‘line item’ in the President's budget for almost a decade. Thus, it is extremely concerning that in President Obama's budget for FY 2011, he has proposed to cut RISS funding from $45 million to just a fraction of that, $9 million, which would effectively eliminate RMIN and place the RISS program itself in jeopardy. While the recent grant for RISS comes at an important time and is highly needed, it is important that full funding be maintained for this vital program. Our law enforcement cannot afford to lose the
critical intelligence, as well as investigative and information sharing
services, that RISS provides."

Jeff Pierce, Deputy Director of RMIN, stated, "Arizona has 198 law enforcement agencies that use RMIN services, including all police departments in the 2nd Congressional district; and RMIN serves over 1000 agencies regionally. With the help of this grant, RMIN/RISS will continue to provide information sharing, criminal intelligence analysis, computer forensics, confidential funding, equipment loans, and training services to law enforcement agencies, as well as facilitating the exchange of multi-jurisdictional information on major criminal activity including gang activity, terrorism activity, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, and violent crime. We are grateful to all our federal representatives who continue to show such strong support for this program."

Congressman Franks is serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, Military Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, Constitution Subcommittee, and is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.