Pasadena Considers Accepting Federal Money to Fight Terrorism

The Pasadena City Council on Monday is expected to approve a contract with the City of Los Angeles which will pave the way for a grant amounting to $125,437 in Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funds to Pasadena.

The UASI funding, sourced from the federal Homeland Security Grant Program, is part of a nationwide effort to improve and enhance emergency response capability for terrorist-related activity.

An Agenda Report prepared by the Pasadena Fire Department for Monday’s City Council meeting shows the funds would come from the 2018 UASI grant and would be shared by the Pasadena Police Department and the Public Health Department. The Pasadena Fire Department is the administrator of UASI grant funds.

The report said the police department will receive $80,437 to be used for Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), which will complement current inventory and help to improve the department’s ability for critical incident response, situational awareness, and resource coordination.

The Pasadena Public Health Department would receive $45,000 to be used for law enforcement and anti-terrorism planning contractors and consultants, and to develop and enhance protocols and systems for the Public Health Operations Plan, the report showed.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security document said funding for the UASI in 2018 was $580 million nationwide. Funds are allocated to eligible high-risk urban areas, which includes the 100 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in the United States.

Eligibility for the grant is determined through an analysis of the relative risk of terrorism faced by these areas.

Once the Pasadena City Council approves the recommendation to recognize and appropriate the available UASI grant funds, the City Manager will be authorized to enter into a contract with the city of Los Angeles for administering the funds, the fire department’s report said.