Vessel, chopper boost SoCal port security

Vessel, chopper boost SoCal port security    Jack Bauer, the protagonist of the counter-terrorism action/drama series '24,' would be jealous of the new assets added to protect the nation's largest commercial port complex and the millions of people that live nearby.
   On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department unveiled a 55-foot patrol boat equipped with the latest high-tech equipment to inspect cargo vessels approaching the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for chemical, biological and radiological weapons, explosives and other potential dangers.
   The new capability augments an existing Sheriff's Department program that employs joint boarding teams to stop and search a sample of approaching vessels. Officials say the water cruiser is designed to let law enforcement officers do their job without hindering cargo delivery.
   The pre-arrival searches 'are done with commerce in mind. It does no good for us to slow down commerce to do these checks. The whole purpose of security is to make sure that things are not interrupted by a terrorist act and we don't want to interrupt it either,' Jack Ewell, a lieutenant in the homeland security division of the Sheriff's Department, told AmericanShipper.com.
   The U.S. Coast Guard is the lead agency in charge of maritime security and conducts its own boarding operations at sea in conjunction with Customs and Border Protection to inspect vessels, crews and cargo that pose a concern based on intelligence criteria.
   The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which has responsibility for protecting the heavily populated region and enforcing state and local laws, views the inspection teams as another layer of defense against terrorists. Local authorities stress they have longstanding partnerships in place for handling maritime security and are operating in a coordinated fashion.
   In addition to specially trained Sheriff's deputies, the security vessel carries Coast Guard officers, Los Angeles Port Police sea marshals and dive team members, and members of the Long Beach Harbor Patrol. Ewell said Coast Guard officers have expertise in inspecting a vessel, while the Sheriff's deputies specialize in bomb and radiation detection.
   Los Angeles Port Police primarily search dangerous cargo to make sure it is properly permitted and is being transported in a safe manner, Chief Ron Boyd said in an interview. The joint boarding program enables the port police to check that hazardous materials comply with local regulations while the vessel is still at sea rather than at berth or when the container is laid down in the terminal, he said.
   'So now, if there were to be a threat, we've pushed back the tension time. It gives us more time to address a situation,' he said.
   The security vessel is outfitted with advanced radiation and chemical-biological detection sensors that allow officers to remotely inspect entire ships for weapons of mass destruction while they are under power. Real-time communication links can transmit readings to the department's hazardous material detail headquarters for further analysis.
   The vessel is also equipped with advanced sonar and a commercial-grade remotely operated underwater submersible that can search ship hulls for improvised explosive devices and remove or disarm them. It is the first of its kind in the world, according to a department statement.
   Department officials said that a canine inspection dog trained to detect chemical and biological residue — the first of its kind in the nation — will be deployed on the vessel, along with an explosives detection dog. Officials said the golden retriever's nose is so sensitive it can sniff out chemical agents at lower concentrations than any instrument.
   The vessel is augmented by a Eurocopter helicopter in the department's fleet that has been equipped with an advanced radiation detection pod that allows for stand-off screening of radioactive materials while flying over ships.
   The Sheriff's Department uses a threat-based approach to determine which vessels to check on the final leg of their voyage or at anchorage awaiting a berth, Ewell said. Deputies are able to bring the security boat alongside a moving cargo ship and, by maintaining the same speed, get more solid radiation and bomb readings than some landside detectors that require conveyances to pass through a portal at a limited speed, he explained. In situations that require closer checks, boarding teams are able to take portable sensors and the canine unit on the target vessel.
   Ewell said the enhanced technology improves the effectiveness of the search teams and will allow them to inspect more vessels. He allowed that the sensors 'aren't 100 percent failsafe' but are part of the effort to have multiple layers of security and act as a deterrent.
   The $3 million vessel, built by Willard Marine in Anaheim, Calif., and the $220,000 aerial radiation detector were paid for using grants from the Department of Homeland Security. Ewell said the vessel was designed with the detection equipment built in because trying to bolt on sensors to an existing vessel doesn't work well.
   'To really make it effective you have to build it from the ground up,' he said.
   Meanwhile, the Port of Long Beach this week officially dedicated its $21 million command-and-control center, which will serve as a communications hub for the port's security division as well as the Coast Guard, CBP, the Long Beach Police Department, the Port of Los Angeles, and the Marine Exchange of Southern California. A sophisticated situation room can display on large screens and computers surveillance video and other monitoring data throughout the port.
   'I've never seen a greater level of cooperation between local agencies' as is on display in the San Pedro Bay area, Boyd said. The coordination of security programs and training has attracted the attention of two or three countries. Security directors at both ports feel they have good unified protocols in place to react to a potential disaster, but want to improve collaboration on prevention and recovery to keep the ports running if a bad event takes place, he added. ' Eric Kulisch