Orlando has more than doubled its anti-terrorism funding to $3.25 million, just two years after the region was shut out entirely of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security program, the area’s congressional delegation announced.
On top of that that, three nonprofit Jewish organizations received a total of $270,000 in security grants from Homeland Security to harden campuses from potential threats.
“Orlando metro has faced multiple threats in the past years, adding alarming risks to the safety and well-being of our community,” U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee. “These funds will enhance our law enforcement’s preparedness ad prevention methods.”
Decisions on funding are made by law enforcement across the region through a task force called the Urban Area Working Group. Through that, run the by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, entities bring forward projects for funding and the task force ranks them based on priority.
Previously, the funding has been used for regional hazmat and search-and-rescue teams as well as the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange and an infrastructure-protection program.
Sheriff John Mina said the funding would aid agencies from Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Volusia counties, helping fund a regional intelligence exchange “Fusion Center” as well as other regional benefits.
Other projects are agency specific: the Orange County Sheriff’s office will get cloud cyber security, for instance, while Seminole County requested a device used to help detonate suspicious packages.
Mina, who in 2016 along with then-Sheriff Jerry Demings testified before congressional subcommittees after a two-year gap without funding, was happy to see the increase.
“We’re very, very happy with the funding and want to continue to remain on the list [and] as more and more people continue to move to the Central Florida area we believe our ranking should improve,” Mina said.
In 2014, the region received $1 million but didn’t see funding again until 2018, when it received $1.5 million.
“Residents and visitors alike should know the federal government is providing the support needed to protect them from terrorist threats,” U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park, said in a statement. “Their safety must be our number one priority.”
For the Jewish groups, the money will be used to harden campuses or add other security features such as cameras, security staff and alarms.
Reuben Romirowsky, executive director of the Rosen Jewish Community Center in southwest Orlando, said the need to be proactive with security is all the more clear after shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh last year and California this year.
“We feel that we’re vulnerable because we’re a place that’s caring, inclusive and diverse,” Romirowsky said. “We know there are people out there who don’t like what we represent.”
To receive its $75,000 in funding, the Jewish Community Center included recommendations from security assessments it’s received from the FBI and Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
At Temple Israel Synagogue in Winter Springs, leaders there were happy to hear they were allotted a $92,000 Homeland Security grant. The synagogue has made substantial security upgrades dating to the Pulse nightclub attack in 2016.
“We were a soft target,” said Geanne Share, comptroller of its board. “We took it seriously from the very beginning.”
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