The Charlotte region is getting more money this year from the Department of Homeland Security. The Charlotte region, which includes eight North Carolina counties and two South Carolina counties, has been awarded $8,970,000. This is $3,310,757 more than in 2005. Overall, DHS decreased its total grant money by $120 million this year.
News 14 Carolina reported, “We will enhance our capability to prevent and respond to any type of potential threat or disaster that will impact our region,” said Luther Fincher, the chief of the Charlotte Fire Department and the city’s director of Homeland Security. Fincher credits Charlotte’s increase to a fine-tuned proposal that explained why the Queen City could be vulnerable to a terrorist attack.
“It’s the second-largest banking center in the nation,” he said Wednesday. “This is the only city in the nation with two nuclear power plants that we test every year.” Other risk factors, Fincher said, include a growing population and large sporting events.
The new money will be spent on a number of things, such as a regional search-and-rescue teams. It will also be used to build a telecommunication system that links all the counties in the area.
NC's Homeland Security Web Site
