Port Security: Port of Long Beach's new security center

Reported as Port of Long Beach Fusion Center Opens:

The center, which sits on a narrow strip of land within the harbor, controls an assortment of cameras, motion sensors, and security teams that monitor the port's 3,200 sq. ft. and acts as a fusion center for hundreds of local, state, and federal agents that provide security for America's second biggest port, according to the Press-Telegram (of Long Beach).

Inside the center, highly trained security officers from Long Beach mix with port police, divers, Coast Guard officers, federal agents and Navy personnel in a maze of offices and meeting rooms.

Some of the port's 115 cameras are so powerful, operators can read the badge number of someone standing two miles away, said Cosmo Perrone, the port's director of security. Other cameras are armed with facial recognition technology, reports the BBC. The most technologically advanced cameras cost $80,000, paid for by federal funds.

But the most astounding feat may be the port's access to private surveillance networks from other organizations and businesses.

Harbor officials have also linked into hundreds more private security cameras deployed at truck sites, warehouses and rail corridors, a move Perrone championed in recent years as port authorities established unprecedented levels of cooperation between the public and private sectors.

A video about the center is available here.