Ohio Congressman Greg Landsman introduced legislation on Monday that would require the U.S. Secret Service to reimburse state and local law enforcement for helping the federal agency.
In the announcement, Landsman said he heard from local law enforcement in Southwest Ohio about the lack of reimbursement from the Secret Service for helping to protect Senator JD Vance, a necessity that started in July when Vance was tapped as the Republican VP nominee.
“There’s a clear need for increased public safety efforts for those under the protection of the Secret Service,” Landsman said in the news release. “In Southwest Ohio, the Cincinnati Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies have been essential to the critical mission of keeping Vice President-elect J.D. Vance safe, and this will continue after he’s sworn in as vice president. The federal government should be taking on these public safety costs, not Cincinnati’s police officers and taxpayers.”
Landsman’s “Secret Service-Local Law Enforcement Partnership Act” would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to financially reimburse state and local law enforcement agencies for assisting the Secret Service.
The bill comes after a U.S. House task force released a report on the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The congressional panel found the Secret Service is spread thin, in need of more personnel and procedure reform.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora was the ranking Democrat on the task force. He told Colorado Public Radio (CPR) that the Secret Service has relied on local law enforcement more since Trump’s assassination attempt.
“The increased demand and the increased threats and really no corresponding increase in the Secret Service or other federal law enforcement agencies,” Crow told CPR. “What ends up happening is the proportion of local law enforcement being involved in very critical security tasks during these special events has gone up. You look at Butler, about 50 percent of the personnel providing critical security roles were local law enforcement.”
It’s unclear how much CPD has spent helping the Secret Service guard Vance in Cincinnati. CityBeat has requested these budget records from CPD.
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This article appears in Dec 11-24, 2024.