Port mulls options for improved security

MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake is going to look at options to improve security with an eye to having a plan in place by next January.

According to Port Commissioner Darrin Jackson, several of the port’s industrial tenants have asked about improved security arrangements.

“But they want it through the port,” Jackson said during a study session prior to a regular port commission meeting Monday morning.

According to Kim Detrolio, the port’s director of finance, current leases with all port tenants require them to provide their own security. Both Boeing, which owns a facility and has parked a number of 737 MAX aircraft at the port, and Greenpoint Technologies, which modifies commercial jetliners for luxury customers, have contracts with security firms to monitor and protect their property.

The port does not currently have a security force of its own, though members of the port fire department check the fence around the airfield several times a day, Detrolio said.

Detrolio explained it would likely cost the port a minimum of $332,000 a year for “24/7” security coverage, though commissioners would have to determine if that coverage meant unarmed patrols or armed officers with the power to arrest.

“That’s why we were looking at the Grant County Sheriff,” Detrolio said.

In February 2019, Sheriff Tom Jones proposed that the port hire an additional sheriff’s deputy for the port who would also be on-call for the Larson community. Jones said the deputy would cost the port $113,000 a year, with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office picking up the cost of a vehicle and equipment.

It was a deal similar to one inked by the residents of Desert Aire, one Jackson said has not worked out to their advantage.

“What happened in Desert Aire didn’t work, and they didn’t get any services,” Jackson said.

The port also has the legal ability to form its own police department, something much larger ports, such as the Port of Seattle and the Port of Pasco, have done.

Jackson said he wanted several options available for discussion and possible implementation by the beginning of 2021.

“I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know we need some kind of security,” Jackson said. “We will only get bigger and will start having more problems.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].