• San Francisco sheriff defies federal immigration authorities

    In defiance of federal immigration officials, San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey announced that as of 1 June he would no longer hand over illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes to immigration authorities; Hennessey’s actions come in support of San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy which prohibits local officials from cooperating with federal authorities unless immigrants are suspected felons; illegal immigrants arrested for minor crimes like public intoxication or shoplifting will not be held in jail; the new policy does not bar individual sheriff’s deputies from cooperating with federal immigration officials

  • Envisage Technologies to provide Indiana DHS with software

    On Wednesday Envisage Technologies announced that it was working with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) to implement the third phase of its state-wide readiness strategy; Envisage will expand its Acadis Readiness Suite, an integrated software tool that automates complex logistical tasks that normally require a host of various databases, software, and systems, to include secure certification of users; state officials say that the added software capabilities will help agencies more accurately assess resource needs and respond more quickly in emergencies

  • Floyd County gets additional $75,000 for CBRNE unit

    Floyd County in Georgia has received two DHS grants worth $75,000 to replace and repair equipment for its chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) response unit; the bulk of the money, approximately $65,000, will go towards replacing aging equipment, while the rest will go towards repairs; the CBRNE team was originally created four years ago with nearly $350,000 in DHS funding as part of the state’s terrorism prevention initiative

  • Ventura County, CA loses $2.8 million in funding

    In the latest Homeland Security budget, Ventura County, California is expected to lose about 70 percent, about $2.8 million, of its federal grant money, a large setback for the county’s emergency responders; with the loss of federal money, county officials believe police and fire departments will be less prepared to respond in an emergency; prior to 9/11, the county had little money available for emergency preparedness, but following 9/11 the county has received more than $22 million to bolster response capabilities; officials are most concerned about the loss of training opportunities

  • Justice Department threatens to cancel flights to Texas

    Last week, Texas lawmakers were forced to back away from a bill that would have outlawed airport pat-downs after the U.S. attorney general’s office threatened to cancel flights to Texas; the Texas House passed a bill that would have made it illegal for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents from conducting thorough pat downs at airport security checkpoints unless they had probable cause; the U.S. attorney general said that the law would be unconstitutional, and if passed, TSA would be forced to cancel flights to Texas

  • Boston tries to bar hazmat trucks from downtown -- again

    On average, 317 big trucks and tankers carrying hazardous materials travel through downtown Boston every day; in 2006 Boston had barred hazmat trucks from entering downtown, but federal officials voided the restrictions last year, saying Boston did not show sufficient cause to justify the restrictions; the city commissioned a study on the issue, which recommended diverting hazmat traffic from downtown to a route which will see the truck take the already-congested Route 128, which cuts through Boston’s western suburbs; businesses and cities along the proposed rout object

  • DHS announces Preparedness Grants

    DHS announced $2.1 billion in preparedness grants to states, urban areas, non-profit agencies, and the private sector; in FY 2011, DHS grants were reduced by $780 million from the FY 2010 enacted level, nearly a quarter of FY 2010 DHS grant funding; the grants focus on the highest risk cities which, according to DHS, continue to face the most significant threats; more than $662 million will go to enhance regional preparedness and capabilities in thirty-one high-threat, high-density areas, and more than $526 million will go to support the implementation of state homeland security strategies to build and strengthen preparedness capabilities

  • Grand Junction, Colorado uses DHS grant to purchase bomb squad equipment

    The Grand Junction Police Department in Colorado recently received two grants to purchase sophisticated new equipment for its bomb squad and new information sharing software; on Monday, the city council authorized the police department to accept the two grants; thanks to a $250,000 grant from DHS, the police department will now be able to purchase a Total Containment Vessel (TCV); Grand Junction also received a $108,000 grant from the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police to purchase new software

  • New York firefighters receive $4.2 million to recruit volunteers

    Last week the Fireman’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) announced that it had received a $4.2 million grant from DHS to help recruit and train volunteers; the money comes as part of DHS’ Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program; FASNY will use the grant money to launch a public awareness campaign with the goal of attracting and maintaining more than 15,000 new volunteer firefighters over the next four years; approximately 75 percent of New York’s firefighters are volunteers, but the state has struggled to attract enough people in recent years

  • Arlington, Texas hopes to keep aerial drone

    The police department of Arlington, Texas is examining ways to fund an unmanned surveillance drone; the drone was originally purchased with grant money from DHS to assist local police officers with security during Super Bowl XLV held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington last February; the drone is still technically owned its unidentified manufacturer and the City Council is debating how to pay for the drone’s operation and maintenance

  • New Jersey launches sophisticated new driver's license

    In compliance with Secure ID, the federal law that mandates that states create more stringent identification cards, New Jersey has unveiled a sophisticated new driver’s license; according to New Jersey officials, the new Enhanced Digital Driver’s License puts New Jersey among the ten states with the most secure identity cards; to prevent counterfeiting, security features include an embedded pattern on the license, one and two dimensional bar codes, and “purposeful errors” like misspellings; to implement these new licenses, the state’s MVCs have had to undergo a $19 million upgrade to install new computer systems, hardware, and software

  • Kansas House cuts troubled agency's role in funding of bio lab

    DHS has chosen Kansas State University (KSU) in Manhattan, Kansas, as the location for the new, $650 million Level 4 BioLab, which will replace the aging lab on Plum Island, New York; the federal laboratory will be the U.S. premier facility for research into countering possible bioterrorism attacks and threats to the nation’s food supply; the Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) was supposed to handle the issuing of $105 million in bonds to develop the lab, but the KBA’s chief executive has recently resigned under a cloud, and the agency’s business practices are now being investigated the Johnson County District Attorney; the Kansas House voted to cut the KBA out of handling the bond issue; “We didn’t want any kind of hint of a problem,” said one House member

  • Brooklyn mosque moves forward, clears legal hurdle

    A mosque in Brooklyn, New York is moving ahead with construction plans after a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by an anti-mosque organization; its construction was blocked after local residents began actively protesting stating that the religious facility would negatively affect the neighborhood; Judge Mark Partnow ruled in favor of the mosque’s proponents after Lamis Deek, the attorney representing the mosque’s builder, suggested that opposition was based on racism, going so far as to call protestors terrorists; Albery Butzel, the attorney representing Bay People, said that the organization is not anti-Muslim and insisted that the group’s opposition was based on a lack of parking

  • California receiving more and more DHS funding

    Each year the state of California has received increasing amounts of DHS grant money to combat terrorism; last year California received $268 million dollars from the agency, roughly 16 percent of the $1.7 billion that DHS awarded nationally; San Francisco alone has received $200 million; not all Californians are pleased with the large amount of funding that the state receives from DHS; Robert Reich, President Clinton’s Secretary of Labor and a professor of public policy at U.C. Berkeley, believes that the large grants are symptomatic of wasteful government spending

  • Arizona police deploy iris scanners and facial biometrics to identify inmates

    Local police departments in Arizona have begun using facial biometrics and iris scanning technology to identify inmates and registered sex offenders; officers with the Pinal County Sheriff’s department have entered roughly 1,500 inmates and 700 sex offenders into a national database to better identify, register, and track inmates; the scans come as part of a broader effort led by the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) and the U.S. Justice Department; beginning in 2009, the Justice Department awarded $500,000 to help roughly forty-five law enforcement agencies throughout the United States to purchase iris scanners from BI2 Technologies