Security measures upped for Connecticut lawmakers

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — State officials are monitoring potential threats against elected officials, elections infrastructure, and the Capitol in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Over the weekend, Connecticut State Capitol Police said they enhanced security around the Capitol complex with additional manpower.

The bolstered security is not in response to any specific threats, a Capitol Police spokesman said. The measures come as elected leaders, including President Joe Biden, urged calm following the attack on former President Trump.

“Politics must never be a literal battlefield, or, God forbid, a killing field,” Biden said in a national address on Sunday evening.

State emergency management officials said well-established protocols and channels of communications remain ready to respond to any threats to elected officials or elections infrastructure.

“There’s a recognition that the threat environment is evolving and situations like Saturday’s situation show us that we need to be ready. We need to be talking to each other in advance,” said Brenda Burgeron, the deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Burgeron overseas the state’s Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Burgeron said well-established partnerships between state, local, and federal agencies are in constant communication in order to monitor and respond to threats.

Bergeron did not discuss specific measures in place to protect Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Conn.), who is traveling overseas this week, but did say, “We continue to work with our partners on enhancing security to the extent necessary.”

Discussions of enhanced security around high-profile elected officials has taken on increased importance in the days following the attempt on former President Trump’s life.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the President had directed him to place Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service .

“We are in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment,” Mayorkas said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTNH.com.