Putnam Wins Grants For Emergency Preparedness

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — New York officials have awarded $7.4 million in grants to help protect and secure critical infrastructure and enhance local governments' security capabilities, and several are coming to Putnam County.

The county will receive $20,000 to develop and enhance their explosive detection canine capabilities. Explosive detection canine teams provide a visible, proactive police presence in areas of mass gathering, transportation centers and critical infrastructure sites and a mobile response capability for detection and identification of potential explosive device incidents.

Another $18,000 will go to a cyber security program to enhance the county's ability to protect, detect, identify, respond to and recover from cyber incidents. Funding may be utilized to mitigate capability gaps that have been identified through a risk assessment methodology.

One regional grant announced Tuesday will benefit Putnam — $132,000 for the Putnam and Westchester counties joint hazmat team.

In addition, the town of Carmel will receive $50,000 through the state's Critical Infrastructure Grant Program. It supports local first responders' efforts to mitigate risk and enhance protection capabilities at mass gatherings/special event sites, and government-owned critical infrastructure sites.

The State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services manages the targeted grant programs.

"First responders need high quality resources to do their jobs to the best of their abilities and this funding will ensure they can acquire them," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in the announcement about the grants. "We owe infinite thanks to these teams and anticipate these grants streamlining the work they do to serve our communities."