But the county's share of the state's homeland security investment doesn't match its population dominance - or its unenviable status as the state's most-likely target for terrorism.

When it comes to federal dollars granted through Utah's Department of Public Safety to prevent homeland security threats, Salt Lake County's residents are worth just $3.72 a head. That ranks them last among all the state's counties in 2005.

First? The 954 residents of Daggett County, where the grants amount to $139 per person - down from $248 last year.

Federal Homeland Security money is given to states to distribute as each sees fit. In Utah, the Department of Public Safety splits one-third of its take evenly among the state's 29 counties. In 2004, that meant each county was allotted at least $256,895, regardless of population.

Homeland security regions - each made up of two or more counties - combine their grants and reallocate the money to agencies within their area.

That's a fair funding model, state public safety officials contend, because each region has unique homeland security challenges.

Daggett County, which has received more than $609,000 in the past three years, is home to Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Questar Gas Storage Facility. Sheriff Allen Campbell said much of the equipment his county has purchased with its homeland security checks - including some four-wheelers, night-vision goggles, bulletproof vests and two $9,000 snowmobiles - has gone to secure those two sites.

Public safety officials say potential targets are spread over the state.

"When we talk about funding, the discussion hasn't been population-based, it has been threat-based," said Kris Hamlet, financial manager for the state Division of Emergency Services. "There are a lot of areas that don't have a large population but do have critical infrastructure."

There's no question, however, about where most of the targets are grouped. The state's six most populous counties comprise 277 of the 452 locations listed on a state-held register of "critical" sites, including energy facilities, transportation networks, commercial facilities and dams.

Salt Lake County alone is home to 94 of the sites - and the state's "incomplete" list doesn't include every large building and government facility in downtown Salt Lake City, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Derek Jensen.

"We are the prime target because we have the icons, the center of government, and a huge daytime population base," said Michael Stever, director of Salt Lake City's Office of Emergency Preparedness. "We are in peril."

Still, Stever acknowledges, so-called "soft targets" must be protected as well. He calls the problem of finding a fair homeland security funding model a delicate balancing act.

It's nothing compared to the thin rope Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard is walking.

"I always want more money," Kennard said. "When the crap hits the fan, it's going to be the Salt Lake City Police Department and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office right there in the middle."

But the urban lawman is cautious about criticizing the state for giving its rural communities a healthy piece of the homeland security pie.

Public safety officials from states such as New York and California have bitterly denounced a national funding strategy that, similar to the Utah formula, has made per capita spending in rural states significantly higher than that in states with more potential targets and victims. As president of the National Sheriff's Association - and the most prominent cop from a sparsely populated state - Kennard often fights to keep homeland security cash flowing into places like Utah, Idaho and Montana.

The argument goes something like this: More-populated communities have a better chance at nabbing federal grants not administered through the states - and are better equipped to begin with anyway.

The Salt Lake City Police Department, for instance, has had Internet-connected squad cars for years. Law enforcement officers in Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah County just recently got their cars online - by using part of their homeland security allotment.

"It's basically bringing us up to date with what they have been doing in the major cities for a long time," said Campbell, the Daggett County sheriff.

But should federal grants - cash that became available in direct response to attacks on large population centers - be used to get the country's rural agencies up to snuff? Not everyone thinks so.

"This money is not really supposed to be there to buy everybody a fire truck who wants one," said James Carafano, a senior fellow in the Davis Institute for International Studies at the Heritage Foundation. "The purpose of these federal dollars is not to pay for public safety in rural communities. It's to pay for terrorism preparation and prevention."

Carafano acknowledged rural states and regions shouldn't be ignored when it comes to federal anti-terrorism grants, but he said all funding "should be appropriate as it fits into a national homeland security system."

Such arguments - and protests from politicians in densely populated states - have resulted in a change to the national funding formula this year. California, last in per capita funding in 2003, now ranks 27th. New York received $1.40 per person in 2003; this year it will get $15.54.

Some would like to see Utah re-evaluate its funding formula in similar fashion.

"I'm all in favor of getting everybody up to a certain level. I'm glad the state did it that way," said Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Brian Law, who sits on a board that reviews how homeland security grants will be spent in four of Utah's most populated counties. "Now I think I'd like to see it shift a bit."

Utah County picked up $1.6 million in grants in 2005 - about $3.78 for each of its 437,627 residents.

"But I could easily spend twice as much - very easily," Law said. "Now the smaller cities, they've received funding to bring them up to par, so in my opinion I'd like to see it change."

There may be little time left to do so.

Utah's 2005 grant was a little more than $15 million - a considerable tumble from the more than $24 million it had received in each of the two previous years.

With less homeland security money available nationwide, many are predicting a continued trend toward target-rich, highly populated states - and that may leave Utah's target-rich, highly populated areas out of luck.

mlaplante@sltrib.com

Homeland security By the numbers

$139.40

Awarded to Daggett County, per capita, for homeland security equipment in 2005.

$248.10

Awarded to Daggett County, per capita, in '04.

$8.46

Awarded to Salt Lake County, per capita, in '04 and '05 combined.

4

"Critical" sites in Daggett County

94

"Critical" sites in Salt Lake County, not including many buildings and government centers.

$384,028

Value of homeland security grants in '04 and '05 for Kane County, which has no "critical" sites on a state list of 452 such facilities.

1

Of Utah's 14 most populated counties, the number that received at least $22 per capita in state administered Homeland Security grants in '04.

Sources: Utah Department of Public Safety, Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.