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Police Lieutenant Coordinated Political Rally Security

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By Klint  Lowry | The Suncoast News

Published: November 8, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - With the long presidential campaign finally over, some folks might miss the tension and drama that built up as the race approached the finish line.

Lt. Jeffrey Harrington of the New Port Richey Police Department isn't one of those people. When whirlwind final-week campaigning touched down twice in the city it was Harrington at the eye of the storm both times.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden held a rally in Sims Park on Oct. 27, followed five days later with a rally by Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin in the same location. Harrington was the one in charge of coordinating the game plan to set up and carrying out back-to-back events designed to draw thousands of energetic attendees.

"Everybody worked hard, and worked very well together," Harrington said Tuesday at police headquarters. "It was truly a collaborative effort."

It had to be, as there was only a matter of days in both cases to get the respective rallies set up. Three days in the case of the Biden visit.

The overture

It started with a visit from representatives of the Obama-Biden campaign. The park was a proven location for politicking since President Bush made a stop there during his 2004 re-election campaign. As advance people for both campaigns checked out the riverfront park, they liked it as a place to showcase their respective candidates, Harrington said.

Within 24 hours, Biden's people submitted all the necessary permits, and it then fell on the Police Department - and Harrington in particular - to start coordinating.

"Because it is primarily a law enforcement event, a law enforcement issue, we become the lead agency," he explained.

Since the event includes the candidate's motorcade in and out of town, The Pasco County Sheriff's Office was in on the event. Add to that the U.S. Secret Service contingent that accompanies the candidates.

In addition to law enforcement, the city's Fire Department, Parks and Recreation Department and Department of Water and Power all played roles.

"We sat as a group in one of the training rooms here," Harrington said.

"We actually took a map out and the Biden campaign showed us what they envisioned."

From there, the local representatives took that vision and "put a fine point on it," as Harrington put it.

They had a whole day to set up thousands of barricades, set the stage and figure out a security game plan.

Working with the campaigns, they had to decide on the degree of visibility and air of authority they wanted to project so they would be an effective presence.

"One of the things we talked about with the campaigns right off the bat is 'what do you envision as far as attendees,' " Harrington said. "They gave us a ballpark figure and we had to tailor our response to the number of people we expected to be in the park."

Good count

Both campaigns were amazingly accurate in estimating their crowds, Harrington said.

By the time of the Biden's event, there was already something in the air that Palin might be coming, so they had the advantage of knowing not to tear everything down just to have to reset it a day or two later. Still, the Palin rally offered a few different challenges.

Her visit was expected to draw a much larger crowd, and it did. There was also a festival scheduled in the park for the same day, which posed some tweaking of logistic and security strategies.

The biggest difference, however, was that Biden's appearance was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on a weekday; Palin was slated to take the stage at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, with gates opening at 6 a.m. That meant having an unusual number of people reporting for duty at 2 a.m. to begin securing the location.

One aspect of these rallies Harrington didn't have to handle was the cost of overtime and other expenses. That's a city administrative issue.

Will they pay?

City Manager Thomas O'Neill was guardedly hopeful the respective campaigns will prove to have been gracious guests, especially when it comes to the expenses the city incurred in playing host to the campaign rallies.

"We're going to tally up the costs and send them a bill," O'Neill said. "Whether they pay it is another matter."

The cost to the city of the two rallies came in at $15,468.

Harrington coordinated the 2004 Bush rally as well. Capt. Skip Stone was his main contact with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office then and now.

Even many of the Secret Service agents were same ones he and Stone worked with four years ago.

What was mentioned so often during the campaign proved true at this stop, Harrington said - experience matters. It made the difference in handling this rare big-time political doubleheader.

"It makes it easy when you have quality folks working with you," Harrington said.

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