Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Office has received a 2020 Chevrolet 2500, and grant funding for personnel, to enhance border security along the county’s border with Canadian waters.

KEWEENAW COUNTY – On Dec. 18, the Government Executive published an article saying the Department of Homeland Security is opening $60,000 bonuses for Border Patrol agents and other officers. While Keweenaw is a border county, Sheriff Curt Pennala said his office will not see those bonuses. However, his county receives an annual grant from the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Operation Stonegarden program (OPSG), administered by FEMA, but is managed through the Border Patrol.

According to the National Immigration Forum, Operation Stonegarden is a federal grant program administered by FEMA, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as part of the State Homeland Security Grant Program. OPSG provides funding to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to enhance their capabilities to “support joint efforts to secure the United States’ borders.” Funds are to be used for additional law enforcement personnel, overtime pay, general purpose equipment, and travel and lodging for the deployment of state and local personnel – among other applicable activities – to “improve overall border security.”

“This is an annual grant that all of the border counties in U.S. get,” Pennala said. The grant funds overtime wages for the deputies to patrol, he said, and also provides various vehicles. Because the grant covers added patrols, there are no added costs to the county taxpayers, said Pennala.

In an average week, the grant provides for an extra 20 hours of patrol in the county.

“It’s almost unlimited overtime for our staff,” Pennala said, “which is nice because not only can they work overtime, it’s also putting that extra patrol out there, allowing us to beef up our patrols.”

For example, if a deputy is scheduled to patrol by himself on a Friday night, the grant allows an extra deputy for that patrol with no added cost to the county residents.

Pennala said occasionally deputies do encounter some type of suspicious situation or a suspicious vehicle, and intelligence is shared between the Sheriff’s Office and the Border Patrol.

In addition to providing wages, OPSG also allows for vehicles the county could not otherwise afford. Five years ago, the county received a 2020 three-quarter-ton Chevrolet 2500 pickup truck, funded by OPSG.

Through OPSG, the county has also received a Chevrolet Tahoe, a patrol boat, two personal watercraft, (PWC), along with ATVs and snowmobiles, all at no cost to county taxpayers.

Pennala said the grant also covers all maintenance and repairs for the equipment.

“That includes any fuel they use, any oil changes, tire changes mechanical work – that grant pays for all of that,” he said, “so, it’s not like we’re bringing in all this equipment with an added expense to the county. The grant is actually paying to maintain the vehicles as well purchasing them.”

Pennala said his department would not have half the equipment it has without the OPSG.