'BIO' VANS JOIN N.Y.'S TERROR FIGHT

By KENNETH LOVETT

IT'S A GAS: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday holds up one of the gas masks the feds will buy in order to equip half the officers in the NYPD. - Mary Altaffer

February 25, 2003 -- ALBANY: The state this spring will begin distributing 113 terror-busting vans to law-enforcement agencies, a top Pataki official said yesterday.

New York City will receive 17 of the special trailers, which will be equipped with masks, hazardous-material suits, detection devices and sample collection kits for chemical and biological elements.

State Police and other localities will get the rest.

"This was all brought about by the chemical and biological [warfare] era we're in," Chauncey Parker, state director of criminal-justice services, said during a joint legislative budget hearing. "It's an area where we not only have to train but to equip our front-line troops."

The trailers, which cost $200,000 each and were recommended by the state's Weapons of Mass Destruction task force, will be paid for through a $25 million federal grant.

The grant will also pay for bomb-team equipment and individual protective kits for first responders, said Parker's spokeswoman, Lynn Rasic.

Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said the feds will provide $4 million to buy gas masks for New York police officers at the NYPD's request.

The money, earmarked to acquire masks for 15,000 to 20,000 officers, roughly half the department's strength, was the first phase of a program to outfit the city's first responders against terrorism or other emergencies involving chemical or biological threats. Clinton said the $4 million was part of the omnibus budget approved by Congress for 2003 and that she was working to obtain more funds for the purpose.

"One of the best ways for leaders in Washington to show our gratitude for the service and dedication of our first responders is to make sure they have the right equipment and resources to do the job," Clinton said at a news conference in Manhattan's 13th Precinct.

Patrick Lynch and Edward Mullins, the presidents of the patrolmen's and sergeants' police unions, endorsed the program as a "good beginning."