New Haven Register (Connecticut)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Police Department Wednesday unveiled new port security cameras meant to thwart a terrorist attack in New Haven Harbor.
Mayor John DeStefano Jr., U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, and Assistant Police Chief Bryan Norwood told reporters the cameras will help protect New Haven’s people and its critical infrastructure.
Then they promptly ripped into the federal government for removing New Haven from a high-threat list that last year earned the region an extra $10 million in homeland security funds.
“When the White House is cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans, they should not be asking cities vulnerable to a terrorist attack to make do with less,” DeLauro said.
DeStefano, who is also a gubernatorial candidate, said city police are being asked to do more to protect against terrorism, even as the federal government is slashing funds to hire more officers.
“It’s the kind of policy that really doesn’t match reality,” the mayor said. “It makes you feel like you’re getting the one-two punch.”
New Haven and its six contiguous communities received $9.6 million in 2004 through the Urban Area Security Initiative, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security designation for areas considered potential targets.
New Haven was one of seven cities removed from the list this year. DeStefano said he can’t imagine why cities added to the list - including Omaha, Neb., and Toledo, Ohio - are considered high-threat when New Haven is not.
The Elm City has twice the population density and is home to Yale University and oil tank farms that supply 81 percent of the region’s home heating oil, the mayor said.
One reason is because the eligibility criteria changed so only cities with populations over 225,000 can get UASI funds. New Haven’s population is about 123,000.
The state’s homeland security grant was also cut this year from $32 million to $24 million, said Maggie Targove, the city’s public safety planner.
Officials from the Yale Child Study Center and the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence told reporters Wednesday the cuts also will eliminate programs that train police to deal with children traumatized by an attack.
Concerning the cameras, the city purchased four using a $171,000 port security grant from the Transportation Security Administration. The high-tech lenses are installed at secret locations around the harbor and hook into TV monitors at police headquarters.
Police dispatchers monitor activity on the cameras 24 hours a day and would report anything suspicious to city police, the U.S. Coast Guard or other federal authorities, Norwood said.
Four backup monitors are stationed at the city’s emergency operations center, buried two stories beneath the Kennedy Mitchell Hall of Records, 200 Orange St.
The cameras are capable of panning and zooming in on areas normal surveillance cameras can not, Norwood said.
The cameras were installed last spring but took six months to come online, Norwood said.
The harbor’s oil tank farms store 2 million barrels of oil and jet fuel and supply 81 percent of the region’s petrol.