Photos courtesy of the Port of Long Beach.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has awarded the Port of Long Beach’s (POLB) Security Division $3.4 million in grants to fund ongoing projects that protect the city’s major economic driver, the POLB announced Thursday.
The grants will go toward enhancing port security systems such as physical security equipment and monitoring and detection systems, including the Visual Port System, and improve the resiliency of port security systems, according to the release.
“Protecting workers and the community, as well as ensuring business continuity, are top priorities at the Port of Long Beach,” said Lori Ann Guzmán, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, in a statement.
She said FEMA’s grant money will help the POLB carry out important security-related projects and enhance their abilities to work with security partners.
According to the release, FEMA offers the grants for port security initiatives, while recipients like the POLB must provide at least 25 percent of the cost of the project. Since September 11, 2001, $136 million in grants have been used to safeguard the POLB, which sustains approximately 1.4 million jobs across the United States.
The Long Beach Harbor Department’s Security Division partners with local, state and federal law enforcement and security and emergency-response agencies, including the Long Beach Police and Fire departments, FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard.