Stockton, Bay Area ports receive DHS security grants

Stockton, Bay Area ports receive DHS security grants The burgeoning inland Port of Stockton has received $3.26 million in port security grants from the latest round of U.S. Department of Homeland Security funding.
   Paired with local matching funds, the funds will be used for security programs including perimeter fencing and personnel training.
   The grant, part of $445 million in DHS grants announced Thursday, fulfilled all of Stockton's requests. The awards are the second round of DHS Infrastructure Protection Program funding for 2007. A total of nearly $2 billion will be awarded this year under the IPP.
   “Many, many ports got either partial funding or some did not get funded at all, so we were very pleased to get 100 percent support from the Department of Homeland Security,” Port of Stockton director Richard Aschieris told the Stockton Record on Friday.
   “This money will be used for establishing a security perimeter around the docks at Rough and Ready Island, used in security training of port personnel and enhancing some of our technology,” Aschieris noted.
   As part of the grant requirements, local matching funds of close to $1 million will have to be raised and all grant funds must be spent within three years.
   Seventy miles to the west, the Port of Oakland drew $6.2 million in grant funds, and the ports in San Francisco and Richmond each received a little over $2 million each. The small Port of Redwood City also received $180,000 through the grant program.