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For Immediate Release:

For Further Information Contact:

October 27, 2004

Office of The Attorney General
- Peter C. Harvey, Attorney General

Roger Shatzkin
609-292-4791

Homeland Security Initiative Selected as “Best Practice” in New Jersey State Government

Urban Area Security Initiative includes Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Union Counties, as Well as Newark and Jersey City

TRENTON — The Northeastern New Jersey Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), a program to enhance homeland security and domestic preparedness in the state’s most densely populated region, was chosen by the not-for-profit group Quality New Jersey as representing a “best practice” among New Jersey state government programs.

The federally funded New Jersey UASI program represents a partnership among state, county and local governments to focus on detecting, deterring, responding to and recovering from threats and incidents of terrorism. It focuses on a six-county area made up of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Union counties, as well as on Newark and Jersey City. The program was the only homeland security initiative among a dozen state government initiatives highlighted yesterday at a day-long workshop sponsored by Quality New Jersey, said Attorney General Peter C. Harvey.

“We are pleased that the innovative aspects of this initiative have been recognized by Quality New Jersey,” Harvey said. “We are well on our way to creating a truly integrated and regionalized program that connects all levels of government in the region in the service of better protecting the public against potential terrorist attacks. This initiative is a model of inter- and intra-government cooperation in the service of a very important cause.”

Funded with $43.9 million in federal homeland security grants in the past two fiscal years, Harvey said the UASI program has focused on developing a regionalized first responder force that is capable of responding anywhere in the region to a terrorist incident. Additionally, the initiative has provided resources to “harden” various critical facilities that might be attractive targets for terrorists. The six-county area accounts for 44 percent of the state’s population and contains more than one-third of the state’s most critical infrastructure sites as identified by the New Jersey Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force, the state’s homeland security policy-setting and implementation body.

Harvey, who chairs the Task Force, said the success of the initiative is directly attributable to the unprecedented cooperation and collaboration of the UASI Working Group, which is made up of state and local representatives of the following agencies:

New Jersey Office of the Attorney General
Office of Emergency Management coordinators and prosecutors from the six core counties
Representatives from the core cities of Newark and Jersey City
Office of the Governor
Office of Counter Terrorism
Division of State Police
Division of Fire Safety
Department of Environmental Protection
Department of Health and Senior Services
Department of Transportation/New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Port Authority of NY/NJ
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Each of the six counties has its own working group, made up of a cross-section of county and local officials, that provides representation to the entire initiative. The initiative cuts across all of the first responder disciplines, including firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, hazardous materials response teams and law enforcement. Statewide, the Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force has developed county working groups in each of the state’s 21 counties.

Harvey noted that New Jersey’s UASI program is just one important part of the state’s larger integrated homeland security planning initiatives. The Task Force has divided the state into five regions, in which similar cooperative programs are being implemented. In addition to the six-county UASI region, the four other regions designated by the Task Force are:

Northwest: Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon counties
Central: Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer and Monmouth counties
Delaware River: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland counties
Shore: Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties

The Central and Delaware regions are currently receiving $1 million planning grants to replicate the UASI planning model. The Delaware River region also received a $1 million grant last year.

Nationally, the UASI program provides federal homeland security funding to 50 areas across the country designated as urban. Funding for New Jersey’s Northeastern UASI last year was the third highest in the country, following only New York City and Chicago.

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For UASI contact persons for Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Union counties, as well as Newark and Jersey City, please call Roger Shatzkin at 609-292-4791. More information on Quality New Jersey and its awards program is available online at www.qnj.org.

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