“We’re very excited about that,” Orlando Police Chief John Mina said about the grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “This is going to provide needed funding for training and equipment to keep this community safe.”
U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando, called it “an exciting day” when she learned that Orlando was awarded the anti-terrorism grant, considering that the region attracts millions of visitors a year as a tourist destination and hosts large events nearly every weekend. Orlando had been denied the anti-terrorism funding every year since 2014. The city was even turned down last year, less than a year after one of the worst shooting massacres in United States history.
“My No. 1 goal was to have this funding restored,” Demings said. “I have argued that because of our large targets and high visitor counts, Orlando should be placed higher on the list when distributing anti-terror funding.”
Demings said her “bipartisan work” as a member of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee — which oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security — helped Orlando secure the federal dollars.
Known as the Urban Area Security Initiative, the money is doled out through FEMA to “high-threat, high-density” cities and urban areas to help pay for anti-terrorism training, purchasing equipment and responding to a terrorist attack.
In total $580 million was awarded to 32 cities across the country, including $6 million to the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, and $3 million to Tampa/St. Petersburg.
After receiving the funding in the coming weeks, the city will then divvy it up among the surrounding counties — including Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Volusia, Mina said.
Public safety organizations within those counties will then put together a wish list of equipment — such as firearms, bomb squad materials and active shooter kits. The funds, however, cannot be used to hire more people or pay salaries.
“We have a long list needs that we want, and the million and a half won’t cover it all,” Mina said. “But it will cover some of that. So we’re happy for that. … It will help us respond to a terrorist event.”
U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park, was pleased that Orlando will receive the federal funding.
“As one of the nation’s most popular destinations, Orlando needs and deserves federal support to keep residents and visitors safe,” Murphy said in a written statement.
U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, said the funds will help the region be better prepared.
“These federal funds are critical to strengthen public safety in Central Florida,” Soto said in a written statement.
In 2014, Orlando was awarded $1 million. But since then, the city had not received a dollar; even in 2017, nearly a year after Omar Mateen burst into the Pulse nightclub in June 2016 and killed 49 people and wounded dozens more.
FEMA said last year that the formula for distributing the money is based on “relative threat, vulnerability and consequence factors from acts of terrorism by each [urban area],” along with “targeted infrastructure that terrorists are deemed more likely to attack” and border crossings.
Mina and Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings even traveled to Washington, D.C., less than a month after the Pulse shooting to press federal officials and members of Congress to reassess the formula used to decide which communities deserve funding. They also pointed out that the Central Florida region draws more than 68 million visitors a year, making it a highly possible target for a terrorist attack.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he recently teamed with mayors from New Orleans and Las Vegas — cities that also attract a large number of tourists — to press federal officials that their regions should be added to the list of urban areas that should receive the funding.
“We think that was very unfortunate that Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando, three of the tourism capitals of the United States, were left off [in 2017],” Dyer said. “Certainly we’re very highly visible communities in that regard. And we’re happy that we’re back on that list.”
Demings agreed.
“Our community has personal experience with tragedy,” Demings said. “Every one of us, and every visitor to Central Florida, should feel safe while enjoying a day of fun, a night of entertainment, a morning of worship, or in the workplace….We never should have been taken off that funding list.”
mcomas@orlandosentinel.com
