Protecting the President

[phorvick]

I am in Chillicothe, IL, today and I decided to take a tour to Peoria (about 12 miles) and check out the Dick’s Sporting Goods store. On the way there, I saw dozens of police and state trooper cars…then it dawned on me that Pres. Bush was speaking in Peoria at noon, so I assumed it was part of the overall security.

I take the exit and to my surprise, that road is the road the motorcade will travel. Every intersection had multiple police cars, officers milling around and decent (150-200 people) crowds. I decide to go back and avoid the traffic, but they closed the road behind me. I was then essentially funneled into the parking lot of this huge mall. I ended up near an intersection, so since I cannot leave, I decide to get out and watch the motorcade.

By this time even more law enforcement were present as are overhead helicoptors. I am then told that the luncheon he is speaking at is just down the road. ($500 to eat and hear the speech; an additional $5000 for a personal photo with the President….and, yes, the thought did cross my mind for a second or two!)

So, I am in a group of people, about 150-200 or so, mostly women. There is a huge “macro security” presence…i.e., uniformed officers all over the place. Yet, I saw no micro-security (plain clothes, Secret Service types etc). I was about 100 feet from when the President went by, and if I were a “bad person” there appeared to be little to stop a suicide attacker.

I did not have my camera (left it in the car…there were some disposables in the console), so I decided to spend some time crowd watching. Three people caught my interest. One was a male, dressed fairly casual, and very athletic with a large oversized shirt hanging loose. It screamed “man with gun”. The other was ostensibly a couple. Both about 40 years old or so. He was dressed similar to the other fellow; the lady was dressed casual and was pushing a stroller. I walked by the stroller and did not see any baby. Hmmmm.

Then the motorcade came and all three of them were positioned in a triangle, none of them watching the motorcade…they were watching the crowd.

Was the apparent lack of crowd security actually misleading? Was no one really there? Or, were those three folks Security? You have to assume that they cannot have people at every intersection, but…how do they make that determination? Interesting.

[Spearhead]

How we're you dressed and how surprised would they be if they looked in your car?



Great class BTW I was there on the 7/12 turned in my app. 7/18 and just received my permit from Sherburne Co. today

[1911fan]

I had a similar feeling when Clinton came to town once, I started to head onto 35 W heading N from diamondlake or 46th ? and a cop waved me to a stop, walked over and said i had to wait the road was closed. He said give me your keys, (it was a COLD day) and he put my keys up on my roof. I decided to get out of the car and walk around as sitting in a unheated car in winter is cold. As soon as I opened the door, I was told to get back in. SO I sat and watched. Looking around I notice one car that was parked and they never took their eyes off me. When the president drove past, one of four identical looking cars, the cop walked back, took my keys off the roof and handed them to me, and said wait for one more set of vehicles, which soon followed, 4 state troopers side by side keeping everyone behind.

What as somewhat scary to me was, i had about 5 rifles and a couple of pistols right behind the seat of my pickup, as I was heading north to go shooting. I wonder what they would have done had they found those...

[David]

Don't know whether those three were security or not, but I'd hazard a guess that there were some that you didn't see.

[phorvick]

Don't know whether those three were security or not, but I'd hazard a guess that there were some that you didn't see.

I concur. The actual likihood that I successfully picked out additional security seems remote. Heck, if I could do that, then the security is not that good It was fascinating though to watch the dynamic. A nice diversion for the day.