Freedom Outpost – by Susanne Posel
The New York Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (NY-DHSES) have provided multiple police departments with hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant monies under the Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communications (OIEC).
These monies are allocated for “the developments, consolidation and/or operation of public safety communications and networks designed to support statewide interoperable communications for first responders.”
Just this week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo “announced $80 million in grant funding to strengthen local emergency preparedness capabilities in municipalities across the State. The combined state and federal grant funds are distributed through the” NY-DHSES.
Cuomo explained that the funds were being directed to “locally-based emergency response infrastructure” which would facilitate Cuomo’s commitment “to providing our emergency personnel with the assistance they need to serve their communities.”
Out of $80 million, Cuomo will make sure that $5 million is given to the federal State Homeland Security Program (SHSP).
Other outreaches of police state apparatus who are receiving funding include:
• Technical Rescue and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)
• Bomb Squad Initiative (BSI)
• Explosive Detection Canine Team Grant Program (EDCTGP)
• Critical Infrastructure Grant Program (CIGP)
Knightscope have developed the K5 Autonomous Data Machine (K5-ADM) is a robot meant to patrol the streets equipped with “nighttime video cameras, thermal imaging capabilities, and license plate recognition skills.”
The K5-ADM is autonomous and utilizes “crime prediction” software that allows the robot to “see, hear, feel, and smell and it will roam around.”
According to the website, the “[K5-ADM will] predict and prevent crime on your community.”
This tech corporation combines “hardware, software and social engagement” to create their robotic “hometown hero”.
All of the information collected by the K5-ADM “is processed through our predictive analytics engine, combined with existing business, government and crowdsourced social data sets, and subsequently assigned an alert level that determines when the community and the authorities should be notified of a concern.”
In 2012, Louis F. Quijas, Assistant Secretary of the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (OSLLE), for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained the purpose of the OSLLE as a front “office that provided coordination and partnership with state, local, and tribal law enforcement.”
The OSLLE was recommended by the 9/11 Commission. It was created to “lead the coordination of DHS-wide policies relating to state, local, and tribal law enforcement’s role in preventing acts of terrorism and to serve as the primary liaison between non-Federal law enforcement agencies across the country and the Department.”
Intelligence is disseminated through OSLLE to LPDs or “non-Federal law enforcement partners” to keep information flowing through initiatives such as the “If You See Something, Say Something™”, the Blue Campaign, the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI), and the Department’s efforts in Countering Violent Extremism.
OSLLE consistently works with LPDs on education, actionable information, operations and intelligence for the purpose of their part in the operations of the DHS with regard to keeping “our homeland safe”.
OSLLE also works as a liaison between LPDs to maintain DHS leadership and considerations of “issues, concerns, and requirements of state, local, and tribal law enforcement during budget, grant, and policy development processes.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) upholds relationships with LPDs for the purposes of and participation with National Preparedness Grant Program that began this year.
To ensure that local police departments continue to meet the requirements of training from DHS, officers regularly attend the DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia.
LPDs are focused through OSLLE and DHS to “remain vigilant and to protect our communities from all threats, whether terrorism or other criminal activities” as DHS expands its control over local law enforcement and the communities they oversee.
As stated in the DHS directive from the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (SLLE), the assistant Secretary for SLLE has “the primary official responsible for leading the coordination of Department-wide policies related to the role of state, tribal, and local law enforcement in preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other man- made disasters within the US.”
This directive also sets guidelines of advocacy for DHS by the LPDs. Authorization of DHS to take over LPDs is given in Title 6 of the United States Code, Section 607, “Terrorism prevention”.
In 2008, the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that LPD “make up more than two-thirds of the 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the US” which translates to an estimated 12,501 law enforcement agencies. Of those LPDs, there are more than 461,000 sworn officers.
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Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/12/new-york-gov-cuomo-army-trained-homeland-security-grant-money/#j1tTpB54GDgfEVww.99
It figures Cuomo would be the first to acquire the new R2-D2 to be put on the streets. I feel safer already. (sarcasm)