Remember...Marco Island is about 7 miles in diameter at most....is all of this necessary? Or is there really more to the ever growing picture here?
State committee on terrorism chaired by Chief Murphy
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
By VICTOR A. HILL, Staff Writer
When the planes crashed, when the towers fell, firefighters and police were the protectors, the first ones on the scene.
To protect Florida against such destruction and loss of life, Marco Island's own fire chief, Michael Murphy, has quietly chaired a state committee on terrorism in the months since Sept. 11, working to obtain more equipment to combat threats to domestic security.
He heads up the State Working Group on Domestic Preparedness through next year. It was previously a committee of 25 officials from local and state agencies. But after Sept. 11, the committee grew to more than 50 members with a half-dozen subcommittees that investigate ways to deal with terrorism and methods to streamline cooperation among agencies.
Since then, local fire and police departments have benefited from the group's work, including Marco Island, which re ceived about $70,000 worth of high-tech equipment such as radiation detectors, decontamination equipment and computers. Other county agencies will receive equipment as well, Murphy said. The allocation is part of a $9.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Murphy doesn't see Marco's share of equipment as an indication the island could be a target for terrorism.
"All American cities have the potential for terrorism," he said.
"It can take many forms, wheth er it's an attack on a visiting dignitary or someone who lives in the community and has ties to various organizations who could become a target.
"I don't think anybody needs to be paranoid about terrorism, but they need to be aware of it, and terrorism isn't new to the United States."
The fallout of Sept. 11 only adds to concerns committee members already had, Murphy said. As an example, abortion clinics have been targets of domestic terrorism for years.
"Terrorism is here, and it has been," he said.
Florida officials took a lead in establishing measures to combat terrorist activity before Sept. 11. Florida was one of only two states approved for grant money from the Department of Justice and was one of only four states that had a plan to deal with terrorism, Murphy said.
"What Florida did a little bit differently is it drove money and resources down to a basic level and put it in the hands of people who do the job," he said.
"It didn't try to create a level of bureaucracy."
Under the committee's guidance, state and local law enforcement and rescue workers agreed to share resources and intelligence.
The committee is working to coordinate a consistent system of communication among agencies so fire departments and state agencies speak the same lingo, Murphy said.
"Each group is going to operate on the same page," he said.
Marco is part of a 10-county regional task force coordinated by Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter.
