Santa Cruz County will receive an additional $1.5 million for its law enforcement agencies from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said Lt. Raoul Rodriguez of the Sheriff’s Office.

He received the news about a boost in Operation Stonegarden funds when he met with DHS representatives on Aug. 19 in Tucson. This initiative provides funding to help state, local and tribal law enforcement combat crime on the border, especially human and drug smuggling, according to a news release from DHS.

In June, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the agency would distribute $60 million in Stonegarden funds to border states for fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009. Then DHS added another $30 million for the initiative on Aug. 11. Arizona law enforcement will receive $7.2 million of the additional funds.

In Santa Cruz County, the sheriff’s office will share the $1.5 million with the Nogales Police Department (NPD) and the Department of Public Safety (DPS), Rodriguez said.

A portion will go to the police departments in Eloy and Casa Grande and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office because drugs and people are trafficked through that county, Rodriguez said. “But our main focus is Santa Cruz County.”

With its new infusion of $306,000 in Stonegarden funds, the Sheriff’s Office will buy five Chevy Tahoe SUVs, two license plate recorders, two portable lighting towers, and 50 first aid and trauma kits, Rodriguez said.

Overtime pay

Most of its regular Stonegarden grant of $844,000 will pay overtime to deputies, “putting boots on the ground,” Rodriguez said.

The license plate reader mounts to a sheriff’s car and its computer reads the plates of passing and parked vehicles, Rodriguez said. If a car is stolen, it pops up on the screen.

Deputies will haul the portable lighting towers on a trailer to light up crime scenes at night and for surveillance, he said.

Chief William Ybarra said DHS promised the Nogales Police Department an extra $533,278 in Stonegarden funds. The department will buy three license plate readers and five Ford Expedition SUVs “for off-road use where the sedans can’t go,” Ybarra said.

It will also spend Stonegarden dollars on a specialized dog unit, protective equipment, fuel and mileage, and overtime.

DHS awarded NPD about $370,000 in its original Stonegarden grant, Ybarra said. Those funds will reimburse the department for two all-terrain vehicles, other equipment and overtime.