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Friday was a busy day for the Hannibal Police Department, which provided security during two back-to-back downtown events Friday morning, while maintaining its normal manpower levels elsewhere in the city.
The first special duty came around 8 a.m., when officers stopped traffic around the Orpheum Theater while a helicopter lifted six air conditioner units from street level to the building’s roof. Less than a half hour after that job was done, officers were stationed at the Mark Twain Dinette for an appearance by Rick Santorum, a GOP presidential candidate.
“Unfortunately for us, both of those were almost simultaneous. We had a little scrambling to do but were able to work it out,” said HPD Chief Lyndell Davis, citing the assistance provided by the Street Department in blocking off streets near the Orpheum.
The Santorum detail lasted until 11 a.m. when officers escorted the candidate and his entourage to the city limits.
“It’s not the first time that we’ve had people of political significance visit our town so we’re familiar with that detail,” said Davis, citing past visits to Hannibal by Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry.
While declining to say how many officers helped provide security for Santorum, Davis had no regrets.
“Now that we live in the post-Arizona era, I think there is a heightened awareness, especially when you have someone who is in the top three of the GOP candidates,” he said. “You want to make sure their visit is all about the campaign and what they’re here trying to speak to the public about, and not about some unfortunate incident. We prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and it went well. There was not an incident at all.”
Davis stresses that the rest of Hannibal was not left vulnerable by providing security for Santorum.
“In 2008, some cities were victimized because the police departments were monopolized by candidates coming to town and other parts of town were victimized by bank robberies and things of that nature,” he said. “We take that into consideration and had a whole other set of officers that were zoned to different parts of the community so that none of this would distract us from what we’re supposed to do on a daily basis.”
While some officers will receive overtime pay, Davis termed the amount “minimal.”
“I would rather take the heat for spending a little overtime and people thinking that was unnecessary versus something bad happen and people ask, ‘Chief why didn’t you prepare for this?’ I sided on the side of caution,” he said.
Friday was a busy day for the Hannibal Police Department, which provided security during two back-to-back downtown events Friday morning, while maintaining its normal manpower levels elsewhere in the city.
The first special duty came around 8 a.m., when officers stopped traffic around the Orpheum Theater while a helicopter lifted six air conditioner units from street level to the building’s roof. Less than a half hour after that job was done, officers were stationed at the Mark Twain Dinette for an appearance by Rick Santorum, a GOP presidential candidate.
“Unfortunately for us, both of those were almost simultaneous. We had a little scrambling to do but were able to work it out,” said HPD Chief Lyndell Davis, citing the assistance provided by the Street Department in blocking off streets near the Orpheum.
The Santorum detail lasted until 11 a.m. when officers escorted the candidate and his entourage to the city limits.
“It’s not the first time that we’ve had people of political significance visit our town so we’re familiar with that detail,” said Davis, citing past visits to Hannibal by Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry.
While declining to say how many officers helped provide security for Santorum, Davis had no regrets.
“Now that we live in the post-Arizona era, I think there is a heightened awareness, especially when you have someone who is in the top three of the GOP candidates,” he said. “You want to make sure their visit is all about the campaign and what they’re here trying to speak to the public about, and not about some unfortunate incident. We prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and it went well. There was not an incident at all.”
Davis stresses that the rest of Hannibal was not left vulnerable by providing security for Santorum.
“In 2008, some cities were victimized because the police departments were monopolized by candidates coming to town and other parts of town were victimized by bank robberies and things of that nature,” he said. “We take that into consideration and had a whole other set of officers that were zoned to different parts of the community so that none of this would distract us from what we’re supposed to do on a daily basis.”
While some officers will receive overtime pay, Davis termed the amount “minimal.”
“I would rather take the heat for spending a little overtime and people thinking that was unnecessary versus something bad happen and people ask, ‘Chief why didn’t you prepare for this?’ I sided on the side of caution,” he said.
