Police response to Beshear hanging in effigy not quick enough, says KSP chief
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer told state lawmakers Wednesday that he was not satisfied with the police response to the hanging of Gov. Andy Beshear in effigy May 24 from a tree at a rally on the Capitol grounds.
“It was not as quick as I would have liked,” Brewer said of police reaction to the incident.
Brewer spoke about 50 minutes Wednesday to members of the legislature’s Budget Review Subcommittee on General Government about Capitol campus security.
The Capitol grounds have been a site of protests and rallies in recent years, ranging from thousands of teachers flocking to the Capitol to rally for pension benefits to rallies and protests on racial justice and Beshear’s restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the most publicized events at a Capitol protest was the hanging of Beshear in effigy as several armed protesters gathered on the front porch of the Governor’s Mansion and yelled for Beshear to come outside. He was not home at the time. The incident came at the end of a Second Amendment pro-guns rally at the Capitol and garnered national attention and outrage.
Rep. Joe Graviss, D-Woodford County, asked Brewer Wednesday if he was satisfied with the response time to the incident.
“No, I wasn’t,” said Brewer. “Ultimately that falls on me and there were some extenuating circumstances there. We did learn from that.”
He said a review of the incident showed the security detail present was sufficient in numbers. The problem arose, he said, when the crowd broke up. He said a small portion went to the area of the Governor’s Mansion, which “diverted our attention,” while a smaller group “performed their effigy ceremony” in another area behind the Capitol.
“It was taken down fairly quickly. It was not as quick as I like,” Brewer said. “We learned from that and I don’t think that will happen again.”
To improve security for the Governor’s Mansion, said Brewer, a new camera security system has been installed.
He also said state police expects to receive late this summer a security assessment for the Capitol grounds from the Secret Service “to expose our vulnerabilities.” He said that is a periodic assessment and was not precipitated by the hanging incident.
On other security issues at the Capitol campus, Brewer said:
▪ A recent state fire marshal’s report for the Capitol said no more than 1,500 visitors should be in the building at one time. With federal guidelines on COVID-19, Brewer said, about 800 is the maximum number of visitors in the Capitol at this time.
▪ The agency is working on ways to speed up long lines of visitors who try to enter the Capitol Annex, especially for legislative committee meetings during law-making sessions. Brewer said that might include scanning drivers’ licenses of people in the long lines to record who will be in the building.
▪ He said “it is a balancing act for us” to deal with the carrying of guns and rifles in the Capitol and Capitol Annex. He said state police often ask persons with guns to put their weapons on safety and carry them properly.
▪ Police are backing away from a procedure of shutting down roads to and from the Capitol. He said they did it on a few occasions to make sure there was medical access to the buildings and lower fear of someone driving into a crowd, as has happened at other rallies and protests across the nation.
▪ The tunnel running between the Capitol and Capitol Annex will no longer be a site for public protests. He said that area must be kept open for legislators and the public.
▪ Police are prepared to arrest anyone who damages property at the Capitol. He said that has not happened but “we won’t tolerate that.”
Several members of the legislative committee asked Brewer about state police presence in Jefferson County, which has seen large protests in recent weeks over racial injustice.
He said the state police is expected to finish its investigation “in the next couple of weeks” of the shooting death of David McAtee, a Black man who was shot June 1 in Louisville during protests over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Beshear ordered the state police to investigate the shooting via a joint effort with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney office in Louisville.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 12:41 PM.
