CUMBERLAND — Allegany County Sheriff David Goad said jurisdictions could soon begin reaching across state borders in order to purchase equipment at a lower price.

Goad said that’s just one idea of many budget-focused discussions that took place recently at the annual National Sheriffs’ Association winter conference in Washington, D.C. Ideas among decision-makers were exchanged throughout the conference, which took place from Jan. 28 to 31.

“I think a lot of it is trying to determine how to adjust to those budgets,” Goad said, and learning “how fellow sheriffs across the country are doing it. Funding is probably the biggest source of conversation we have — how we’re going to do it, how we can pull resources together, how we can feed off each other.”

Pooling resources, Goad said, “is something we can do in the bid process” and use the “economies of scale” to lower the purchase price of equipment, ammunition and other necessities.

Goad said grants remain a critical component of any law enforcement agency’s budget and conference attendees were able to talk with elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia’s 3rd District. Scott serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, where he is chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

The keynote speaker was Attorney General Eric Holder, and Laurie Robinson, assistant attorney general in the Office of Justice Programs, also gave a presentation at the conference, as did R. Gil Kerlikowske, formerly the Seattle police chief and now the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Goad said if state government were to go out for bid on an item, such as fleet vehicles, local governments might be able to “piggyback on that.”

“It reduces the cost to everyone because of buying in volumes,” he said. “Radio systems, communications, satellite communications ... it takes money to put these things up. After a while, everybody starts to benefit from what you’ve done in a single action.”

The National Sheriffs’ Association is a nonprofit organization that advocates issues facing law enforcement and other criminal justice professionals. For more information, log on to www.sheriffs.org.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.