VIDALIA &8212; Local emergency service agencies are preparing to step into the future of homeland security, thanks to grant requests recently approved by the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security.

With a $20,000 request by the Ferriday Police Department granted by the state, the three largest law enforcement agencies in Concordia Parish would soon be able to communicate seamlessly.

The funding is for equipment necessary to connect the departments two interoperable radios &8212; which it purchased through a previous grant &8212; to the sheriff&8217;s office.

Morris White, the director of the parish&8217;s offices of emergency preparedness and homeland security, said the new radios operate on a data network and have access to different frequencies and are the future of emergency communication.

&8220;In a few years, this is all there&8217;s going to be,&8221; he said. &8220;If you don&8217;t want to be left behind, you have to do it.&8221;

The sheriff&8217;s office and Vidalia Police Department are both on the system.

White said VPD just had a $20,000 request approved to purchase more of the radios.

Several months ago, CPSO got close to $85,000 to continue it&8217;s own communications improvement.

The money comes from the federal Office of Homeland Security through the state office. Each parish, depending on its size and population, receives an allocation that it can access only by filing legitimate, security-based requests.

This round of grant money came close to $200,000, White said, though he expects that number to drop below $150,000 in the coming year.

Other emergency departments in the parish have recently received approval for grant money or are expecting to hear soon.

The Clayton Fire Department asked for and was approved to receive $5,000 for portable radios for use in fighting fires. The volunteer department is tied into Concordia Fire District No. 2 and, in case of a disaster, would be a lot more effective in assisting if it could communicate with other agencies, White said.

Fire District No. 2 got a grant of its own, White said. In order to better analyze what&8217;s going on inside a burning building, the department received approximately $13,000 for an infrared camera.

The Town of Ridgecrest is hoping for approval for a portable diesel generator powerful enough to run a water system, or the courthouse, in case of a prolonged power outage. White said the request comes to approximately $15,000.

White said the common thread to the grant approvals was that they were necessary for upgrading the parish&8217;s terrorist or weapons of mass destruction preparedness and response and that there was no redundancy.

&8220;All of this is distributed evenly to the different agencies to be more efficient and help the whole public,&8221; he said.