By Mark Edward Nero
The security division of the Port of Long Beach has been awarded $3.4 million in grants to fund ongoing projects that protect the port.
The grants, awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, go toward enhancing port security systems such as physical security equipment and monitoring and detection systems and improving the resiliency of port security systems.
“FEMA’s grant money will help us carry out important security projects and enhance our abilities to work with our security partners at the port,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Lori Ann Guzmán said in a prepared statement.
FEMA, which is part of the US Department of Homeland Security, offers the grants for port security initiatives, and recipients like the Port of Long Beach must provide at least 25 percent of the cost of the project.
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, US Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard.
Security has been a priority at Long Beach, as well as at the adjoining Port of Los Angeles, since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Over the past 14 years, security operations at the port have been enhanced by $136 million in grants received.
Showing posts with label port security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label port security. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Thursday, August 11, 2011
City Auditor Slams Long Beach Port Dive Team
City of Long Beach Auditor Laura Doud on Tuesday issued a review slamming the Port of Long Beach dive team for "unjustified overtime" as well as rebuking port management for a lack of "effective oversight."
The review of the dive team, and the conclusion that the port security management has been lax in its oversight, comes at an auspicious time for city officials. For many months, City Hall has been discussing plans to absorb the port's security division, and the millions of dollars in federal and state security grants that flow to it, into the city police department.
The port dive team, a subset of the port's security division, is one of the nation's few port authority-run dive teams dedicated to underwater security in a major commercial port. The team, which has grown from two to ten members since being formed in 2007, is charged with conducting underwater inspections of port facilities, assisting in locating and removing navigational hazards, anti-terrorism work and coordination with other law-enforcement agencies.
The dive team is fully funded by the port, which does not use city or taxpayer money. The port, managed by the city's semi-autonomous Harbor Department, generates revenues mainly from the lease of port facilities and wharf/dock fees.
Doud, the city's chief accountant, said that the review was initially focused on the port's security division as a whole due to "a high level of overtime." However, when Doud's office found that the majority of the security division overtime was attributable to the division's landside patrol operations, "we focused our review on the Harbor Dive Team operations due to the identification of significant control issues surrounding the oversight of Dive Team personnel."
Despite the findings of the review, and the characterization of "unjustified overtime" by Doud, no wrong doing beyond inaccurate documentation was alleged in the review and no dive team member has been asked to reimburse any overtime pay.
For the review, Doud's office studied eight weeks of individual dive team member pay records from various weekly periods in March, April, September, October and November, 2010, as well as cumulative annual team wage and overtime expenses for 2007 through 2010. The review does not indicate why the specific eight weeks in 2010 were selected for analysis, if the eight weeks selected were representative of other weeks in the year, or list details of other dive team pay periods.
The review found that in 2010 the port paid out $104,591 in overtime to the dive team out of total wages for the team of $525,367, or 19.9 percent of the team's total wages for the year.
By comparison, the city police department overtime costs in 2010 represented 7.7 percent of the department's total wages and the city fire department's overtime costs in 2010 represented 20.9 percent of total wages paid.
The 19-page dive team review, which includes a seven-page response from port officials, further states that port security division supervisors were unable to account for how the ten port security officers on the dive team "spent a majority of their time--including overtime--due to inadequate documentation and oversight."
Doud identifies these supervisors as the port Director of Security (who retired in early May), the Chief Port Security Officer, and the Dive Team Supervisor.
Also leading to "substantially higher overtime pay," said the audit, were flawed scheduling techniques, particularly where dive team members were soley dedicated to dive work and removed from regular landside patrol service for which the dive team members were appropriately trained.
In addition, the audit said that port security division supervisors failed to create or implement "a formal training plan to account for" the dive team members' time spent in training and that security supervisors failed to "ensure that divers received the appropriate type of training."
In the port response, port executive director Richard Steinke said that due to the review, the port security division "has already commenced a process improvement program for the Dive Team in the areas of overtime, training, and procedures."
This program, according to Steinke, includes revision of the security division timekeeping and overtime approval process, requiring dive team members to submit daily activity logs to supervisors, reviews of dive team scheduling methods, and the increased use of dive team members for landside port patrol duties.
Steinke added that the port will deliver an updated version of this process improvement program to Doud's office within six months.
This is the second review conducted by Doud's office of port operations since last year. In July, 2010, Doud conducted a review of the port's processes regarding an annual transfer of port funds to the city. The review led to a city council-sponsored ballot initiative that voters approved in November, 2010. Known as Measure D, the initiative changed the city charter to give City Hall greater access to port funds.
The Measure D changes will result in more than $100 million in port funds being shifted to City Hall control by the end of fiscal year 2012.
The review of the dive team, and the conclusion that the port security management has been lax in its oversight, comes at an auspicious time for city officials. For many months, City Hall has been discussing plans to absorb the port's security division, and the millions of dollars in federal and state security grants that flow to it, into the city police department.
The port dive team, a subset of the port's security division, is one of the nation's few port authority-run dive teams dedicated to underwater security in a major commercial port. The team, which has grown from two to ten members since being formed in 2007, is charged with conducting underwater inspections of port facilities, assisting in locating and removing navigational hazards, anti-terrorism work and coordination with other law-enforcement agencies.
The dive team is fully funded by the port, which does not use city or taxpayer money. The port, managed by the city's semi-autonomous Harbor Department, generates revenues mainly from the lease of port facilities and wharf/dock fees.
Doud, the city's chief accountant, said that the review was initially focused on the port's security division as a whole due to "a high level of overtime." However, when Doud's office found that the majority of the security division overtime was attributable to the division's landside patrol operations, "we focused our review on the Harbor Dive Team operations due to the identification of significant control issues surrounding the oversight of Dive Team personnel."
Despite the findings of the review, and the characterization of "unjustified overtime" by Doud, no wrong doing beyond inaccurate documentation was alleged in the review and no dive team member has been asked to reimburse any overtime pay.
For the review, Doud's office studied eight weeks of individual dive team member pay records from various weekly periods in March, April, September, October and November, 2010, as well as cumulative annual team wage and overtime expenses for 2007 through 2010. The review does not indicate why the specific eight weeks in 2010 were selected for analysis, if the eight weeks selected were representative of other weeks in the year, or list details of other dive team pay periods.
The review found that in 2010 the port paid out $104,591 in overtime to the dive team out of total wages for the team of $525,367, or 19.9 percent of the team's total wages for the year.
By comparison, the city police department overtime costs in 2010 represented 7.7 percent of the department's total wages and the city fire department's overtime costs in 2010 represented 20.9 percent of total wages paid.
The 19-page dive team review, which includes a seven-page response from port officials, further states that port security division supervisors were unable to account for how the ten port security officers on the dive team "spent a majority of their time--including overtime--due to inadequate documentation and oversight."
Doud identifies these supervisors as the port Director of Security (who retired in early May), the Chief Port Security Officer, and the Dive Team Supervisor.
Also leading to "substantially higher overtime pay," said the audit, were flawed scheduling techniques, particularly where dive team members were soley dedicated to dive work and removed from regular landside patrol service for which the dive team members were appropriately trained.
In addition, the audit said that port security division supervisors failed to create or implement "a formal training plan to account for" the dive team members' time spent in training and that security supervisors failed to "ensure that divers received the appropriate type of training."
In the port response, port executive director Richard Steinke said that due to the review, the port security division "has already commenced a process improvement program for the Dive Team in the areas of overtime, training, and procedures."
This program, according to Steinke, includes revision of the security division timekeeping and overtime approval process, requiring dive team members to submit daily activity logs to supervisors, reviews of dive team scheduling methods, and the increased use of dive team members for landside port patrol duties.
Steinke added that the port will deliver an updated version of this process improvement program to Doud's office within six months.
This is the second review conducted by Doud's office of port operations since last year. In July, 2010, Doud conducted a review of the port's processes regarding an annual transfer of port funds to the city. The review led to a city council-sponsored ballot initiative that voters approved in November, 2010. Known as Measure D, the initiative changed the city charter to give City Hall greater access to port funds.
The Measure D changes will result in more than $100 million in port funds being shifted to City Hall control by the end of fiscal year 2012.
Friday, June 3, 2011
CBP Seizes Karaoke Machines In LA/LB With Bogus Memory Chips
Members of the United States Customs and Border Protection assigned to the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complex discovered and seized 1,932 karaoke machines worth nearly $1 million loaded with counterfeit memory chips.
CBP officers seized the karaoke machines on May 16, after CBP import specialists confirmed with the trademark holder that the memory cards bearing the SD (San Disk) logo were counterfeit. The shipment, with an estimated domestic value of $852,368 and an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $964,068, arrived via a cargo container originating in China. The karaoke machines were destroyed after San Disk confirmed the chips were counterfeit.
It is routine for CBP, citing privacy reasons, to not identify the specific terminal or facility within the port complex where a seizure occurs.
“CBP enforcement actions at Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport continue to yield outstanding results. We have an ongoing commitment that is focused towards intercepting shipments containing merchandise in violation of protected trademarks before they reach the consumer,” CBP Acting Director of Los Angeles Field Operations Carlos Martel said in a statement.
The importation of merchandise with counterfeit trademarks is prohibited, said the CBP statement. Importers violating these laws may be subject to civil penalties and/or criminal prosecution. CBP said it maintains "a vigilant stance in intercepting illegal shipments that introduce infringing merchandise into the country."
CBP’s strategic approach to intellectual property rights enforcement is multi-layered and includes seizing fake goods at ports of entry, pushing the border outward through audits of infringing importers and cooperation with international trading partners, and partnering with industry and other government agencies to enhance these efforts.
In fiscal year 2010, CBP at the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complex set a record-breaking pace with 863 trade seizures with an aggregate domestic value exceeding $34 million. This is a 42 percent increase in the number of seizures from fiscal year 2009.
CBP officers seized the karaoke machines on May 16, after CBP import specialists confirmed with the trademark holder that the memory cards bearing the SD (San Disk) logo were counterfeit. The shipment, with an estimated domestic value of $852,368 and an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $964,068, arrived via a cargo container originating in China. The karaoke machines were destroyed after San Disk confirmed the chips were counterfeit.
It is routine for CBP, citing privacy reasons, to not identify the specific terminal or facility within the port complex where a seizure occurs.
“CBP enforcement actions at Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport continue to yield outstanding results. We have an ongoing commitment that is focused towards intercepting shipments containing merchandise in violation of protected trademarks before they reach the consumer,” CBP Acting Director of Los Angeles Field Operations Carlos Martel said in a statement.
The importation of merchandise with counterfeit trademarks is prohibited, said the CBP statement. Importers violating these laws may be subject to civil penalties and/or criminal prosecution. CBP said it maintains "a vigilant stance in intercepting illegal shipments that introduce infringing merchandise into the country."
CBP’s strategic approach to intellectual property rights enforcement is multi-layered and includes seizing fake goods at ports of entry, pushing the border outward through audits of infringing importers and cooperation with international trading partners, and partnering with industry and other government agencies to enhance these efforts.
In fiscal year 2010, CBP at the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complex set a record-breaking pace with 863 trade seizures with an aggregate domestic value exceeding $34 million. This is a 42 percent increase in the number of seizures from fiscal year 2009.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
New Maritime Security Training Center Opens at Los Angeles Port
US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officially inaugurated a new maritime security training center at the Port of Los Angeles Monday, aimed at boosting security at the nation's ports.
The new $16.1 million Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center, the first of its kind in the US, will offer five-week training programs to law enforcement personnel from across the nation in such maritime security disciplines as arrest procedures, boardings, maritime counter-terrorism operations, and vessel searches.
The main training course is based on curriculum developed by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and was jointly developed by the will be developed jointly by FLETC staff, the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the Los Angeles Port Police.
Villaraigosa said that to keep ports safe and secure, "we must invest in our personnel and provide them with the latest training tactics and procedures to be on alert for any signs of potential terrorism."
Basic training in boat handling skills, chart reading and navigation rules will also be provided at the center by the California Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The new $16.1 million Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center, the first of its kind in the US, will offer five-week training programs to law enforcement personnel from across the nation in such maritime security disciplines as arrest procedures, boardings, maritime counter-terrorism operations, and vessel searches.
The main training course is based on curriculum developed by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and was jointly developed by the will be developed jointly by FLETC staff, the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the Los Angeles Port Police.
Villaraigosa said that to keep ports safe and secure, "we must invest in our personnel and provide them with the latest training tactics and procedures to be on alert for any signs of potential terrorism."
Basic training in boat handling skills, chart reading and navigation rules will also be provided at the center by the California Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Senate Bill Seeks to Kill 2012 100% Container-Scan Deadline
A Senate bill introduced Tuesday seeks to eliminate a 2012 deadline for 100 percent scanning of all United States-bound oceanborne cargo containers.
The bill, named the SAFE Port Reauthorization Act of 2010, seeks to replace the 100 percent scanning requirement enacted in 2007 with a "more reasonable" risk assessment method until container scanning technology is more developed.
The bill would require that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designate such a risk assessment method as effective.
DHS now utilizes a threat matrix risk assessment method to evaluate containers arriving at most U.S. ports.
The 2007 law which set the 2012 deadline called for all U.S.-bound cargo containers to be x-rayed and scanned for radioactive contents.
Some ports, such as those in Long Beach and Los Angeles, do scan all containers leaving marine facilities with radiation portal monitors but x-ray scanning technology has yet to develop to the point that it can keep up with the volume of containers moving through a modern port.
The 100 percent scanning requirement has been blasted by many facets of the shipping industry as both too costly and technically infeasible with current technology.
The bill, named the SAFE Port Reauthorization Act of 2010, seeks to replace the 100 percent scanning requirement enacted in 2007 with a "more reasonable" risk assessment method until container scanning technology is more developed.
The bill would require that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designate such a risk assessment method as effective.
DHS now utilizes a threat matrix risk assessment method to evaluate containers arriving at most U.S. ports.
The 2007 law which set the 2012 deadline called for all U.S.-bound cargo containers to be x-rayed and scanned for radioactive contents.
Some ports, such as those in Long Beach and Los Angeles, do scan all containers leaving marine facilities with radiation portal monitors but x-ray scanning technology has yet to develop to the point that it can keep up with the volume of containers moving through a modern port.
The 100 percent scanning requirement has been blasted by many facets of the shipping industry as both too costly and technically infeasible with current technology.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
LA Port Round-Up: New Roadway Breaks Ground, Security Expert Tapped
Officials from the Port of Los Angeles were joined by city and federal representatives to break ground on a 1.3-mile redevelopment of Harry Bridges Boulevard located on the northern side of the port's TraPac container terminal and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics auto terminal.
Expected to be completed in 2012, the $22 million project will completely revamp the stretch of roadway, which runs from the northern end of Gibson Boulevard to the southern end of Alameda Street and serves as the main route for trucks heading from the port to State Route 47. The project will include grading, utility relocations, construction of concrete walks, gutters, driveways, traffic signals, fire hydrants, street lighting storm drainage, signage, landscaping, irrigation and fiber optic infrastructure.
While the completed project will maintain the roadway's current two lanes in each direction, expansion of the roadbed during the project will provide space to add an additional lane in each direction if future demand increases.
The project is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and is expected to create more than 250 local construction jobs.
In other Port of Los Angeles news, port officials have approved a contract with security expert Stephen Flynn to assist the port in developing a program and securing support from government and industry to increase the scanning of containerized cargo destined for the port prior to loading at overseas terminals. Flynn will also be responsible for working with port staff in seeking public sector and/or industry funding for this program, including funding for the overseas deployment of cargo screening equipment. The port approved the one-year contract term with two, one-year renewal options, for an amount not-to-exceed $200,000.
Flynn, recently named the President of the Center for National Policy, is also a bestselling author on the topic of national security. Prior to joining the CNP, he spent a decade as a senior fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Following the election of President Barack Obama, he served as the lead policy advisor on homeland security for the presidential transition team. He also currently serves as a member of the bipartisan National Security Preparedness Group, co-chaired by former 9/11 commissioners, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
LA/LB Ports Get New Security Tools
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department unveiled several new pieces of technology Wednesday that it claims will help protect the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
The new tools, being paid for by the United States Department of Homeland Security, include a cargo-screening ship, a radiation-detecting helicopter module and a chemical/biological agent-sniffing dog.
The $3 million ship, thought to be the first of its kind, is outfitted with special sensors to inspect cargo through the hulls of cargo vessels being escorted into the harbor. Also equipped with sonar and an underwater robot to search the hulls of incoming vessels below the water line, the new Sheriff vessel is staffed with explosives experts and can transmit sensor data in real time to shore-based enforcement agents.
The new $220,000 helicopter module fits on existing Sheriff helicopters and can detect radiation material aboard cargo vessels before they enter the harbor.
The new tools will not replace the more advanced inspection techniques that already exist on-dock, such as radiation portal monitors at terminal gates.
The Sheriff is just one of the agencies responsible for homeland security in the port area. Others include the police forces of both ports, police forces from both port cities, the US Coast Guard, and the US Customs and Border Protection.
