Washington, DC - Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, took issue with “a spokesman for the United States Secret Service” who suggested that local law enforcement was “supposed” to be posted in the area where the would-be assassin fired and hit former President Donald J. Trump over the weekend.In an interview this evening, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Director Kimberly A. Cheatle doubled down on this claim, saying “local police in the area were responsible.”
“All of us want answers to our questions. There was, as Secretary Mayorkas said earlier, a security failure—one that nearly cost former President Trump his life,” Yoes said. “All of us in law enforcement can agree that the roof of the building should have been secured by law enforcement. It clearly was not. Nonetheless, we must recognize the extraordinary heroism of the Secret Service agents and other officers on the scene who saved the life of their protectee.”
While reports and information is still being gathered and developed, a man was able to obtain a shooting perch with line of sight to former President Trump, a protectee of the United States Secret Service (USSS). It is the primary function of the USSS to provide for the protection and security on sites like the one in Butler, Pennsylvania. In order to carry out this law enforcement mission, the safety and security of the protectee, the USSS relies on the support and assistance of local law enforcement. While these local officers do not all have specialized training in individual protection, they are fully capable of assisting at these large events, whomever the protectee may be.
“We must remember that the law enforcement mission is a shared mission and law enforcement at every level routinely cooperates and collaborates with one another. More than 90% of U.S. law enforcement are State and local officers. They would not be as effective at their jobs without the support of the Federal colleagues, and our Federal partners would be unable to perform their functions without the assistance of State and local agencies,” said Yoes. “Suggestions made in the media that suggest local agencies should play no role in assisting the USSS at events like the one in Butler simply do not know what they are talking about.”
“From a law enforcement and security standpoint, the coming election will be an extraordinary challenge for the Secret Service. They will be advancing and planning security for the candidates at sites all across the nation for the next four and a half months. In making and executing these plans to protect the candidates, they will need to rely on State and local law enforcement to ensure the protection mission is successful,” Yoes said. “Yet, in the wake of some of the anonymous comments from unknown officials, State and local agencies may wonder if they can rely on the Secret Service. I am concerned that anonymous statements or media speculation could have a chilling effect on the ability of Federal, State, and local law enforcement to work together through what will certainly be a grueling campaign.”
President Biden has ordered an independent review of the incident, which U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas supports. Congress will also be convening investigations into the incident.
“Whatever happened in Butler, this was not a failure of the local, State, or Federal officers on the ground who responded to the shots fired at former President Trump, they acted heroically and put their lives on the line to protect everyone else at the event. We must recognize that,” said Yoes. “This is a failure at the management or command level who failed to secure an obvious weakness in the security of this event. The shooter should never have had access to the roof from which he made his attack. Whether the plan or the execution failed will come to light, but in the meantime law enforcement still has a job to do.”