NH police chief says communication with Secret Service is key

MANCHESTER, N.H. - As the nation grapples with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, law enforcement in New Hampshire are already thinking about the lessons learned from Pennsylvania and how they can secure future campaign events.

"No chief or no police agency wants what happened on Saturday on their resume," Manchester, New Hampshire Police Chief Allen Aldenberg told WBZ-TV.

Secret Service and police coordinate weeks before campaign event

Aldenberg has helped secure his fair share of campaign events involving presidents, former and current. Manchester is a popular campaign stop in the swing state of New Hampshire and Secret Service often reach out to local police weeks before an upcoming event.

"They trust us. So perhaps they may give us a little more than they would," Aldenberg said.

Most Manchester rallies are held at the city's SNHU arena. In those cases, Aldenberg says Secret Service is involved with securing the interior of the arena, Manchester police are involved with securing the outside, and preparation for these events can take weeks.

"And once you get three or four days out from the event, we're in there probably sometimes two or three times a day, meeting with Secret Service, meeting with the arena staff, the management, doing walkthroughs," Aldenberg said.

"Communication is key"

On the day of the event, communication is key. Each agency involved works with its own communication system. That is why Aldenberg says he pairs up his local police with other agencies.

Manchester police offer all sorts of capabilities to Secret Service. They use bomb-sniffing dogs, local intelligence, and tactical assistance in the form of SWAT teams. Aldenberg says they do not offer sniper capability.

Each event can be time-consuming and costly. Aldenberg says each local department is typically left to pick up the tab for the security it provides, which can be a strain on small police departments.

"It can also be a financial burden. It's a significant amount of money when a candidate or a particular sitting president comes into your community to hold an event. But that cannot be an excuse not to do what's appropriate and what's right," he said.

Aldenberg says it's critical that local law enforcement and the public receive as much information as possible about what led to the assassination attempt on Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally.

"They owe it to the public to be fully transparent so we make sure this doesn't happen again," he said.