Long Island to get more than $3M for counterterrorism

Long Island received more than $3 million in federal grants for counterterrorism efforts, state officials announced this week.

Nassau County got $1.95 million and Suffolk County received $1.2 million in state Homeland Security Program grants administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

"This funding will help defend the state against those who wish to do harm and will support our first responders who are called upon when emergency strikes," Cuomo said. "Keeping New Yorkers safe is the top priority, and through these programs and exercises we will continue to work toward this goal."

Each county is required under federal guidelines to direct a quarter of its total award toward law enforcement terrorism-prevention activities.

Nassau County is in the beginning stages of deciding how to best use its funds, Nassau police spokeswoman Maureen Roach said Friday.

Suffolk County will direct $300,000 of the grant money to its police department, according to Timothy D. Sini, assistant deputy county executive for public safety.

Sini said it has not yet been determined where the rest of the funds will be spent.

In the past, Suffolk has spent homeland security funds on items such as armored vehicles, hazmat equipment and devices to detect powders such as anthrax, he said.

The county also has used the funds for training for counterterrorism patrols of critical infrastructure such as the Long Island Rail Road, Brookhaven National Laboratory and busy downtowns, as well as counterterrorism response training, Sini said.

The awards are part of a larger pool of more than $233 million awarded to New York State under the program in order to support regional preparedness efforts, including training for first responders and equipment purchases.

Of that amount, almost $181 million will be used for the Urban Areas Security Initiative for anti-terrorism programs in the New York City area, including Nassau and Suffolk counties.

New York City received $34,392,307 in grants. The NYPD has said it will use most of the funds for security cameras, training, police overtime, bomb-detection devices, communication equipment and security for Penn Station, among other measures.