The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Urban Area Security Initiative Grant Program funds the unique planning, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high threat, high density urban areas. This grant assists designated regions in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism. California is home to five of these urban areas and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated the City and County of San Francisco as the fiscal agent for the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). The County, as a member of the Bay Area UASI, will receive $744,412. Funds will be used to enhance public safety capabilities of law enforcement agencies throughout the region by aggregating discrete criminal information sources into a unified platform. Without a regional system, there exists no active solution for connecting data across jurisdictions. Expand existing systems to participate in other state, regional, and national initiatives. Funding will also be used to: increase public awareness and understanding of the Community Warning System in Contra Costa County and to increase registrations, both through the CWS website and social media; to purchase Sheriff's protective vests and helmets; to purchase Health Services Hazmat devices to aid in the detection/identification of chemicals to assist in protection, response and mitigation during a terrorism attack; and to fund Moraga Orinda Fire District's comprehensive evacuation support system consisting of: fire modeling, evacuation polygons, and evacuation decision support tool. As the fiscal agent for the grant, the City and County of San Francisco has developed a standard form contract for use with all Bay Area UASI partner agencies requiring full indemnification of the City and County of San Francisco. The County has agreed to previous inter-agency agreements with the City and County of San Francisco, which contained the same language, to participate in regional homeland security efforts and access important Federal funding.
Should the Board decide not to approve entering into this agreement, the County will not receive its share of the 2020 UASI Grant funds; risk management and planning to increase regional response capability will need to be either funded through another source or not performed.