What Topekans with expertise in security say about Trump assassination attempt

Ed Klumpp was stationed atop what is now Landon State Office Building as President Gerald Ford spoke Feb. 11, 1975, to an estimated 12,500 people from the east steps of the Kansas Statehouse.

Klumpp was among Topeka police officers assisting the Secret Service, which has historically gotten help from local law enforcement when it provides security for events involving presidents and presidential candidates.

"I was the only officer on the roof of the building, which was directly across the street from where he spoke," Klumpp said. "My assignment was to intercept anyone who came onto the roof and to also observe the crowd listening to the president."

Klumpp was then serving as Topeka's chief of police when President George W. Bush spoke here in 2004.

Speaking as a former Topeka police chief, Klumpp shared his thoughts in an email Sunday with The Capital-Journal about the July 13 attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The attempt was made by a man Trump's security detail had identified earlier at that event as a "person of interest" because he carried a backpack and a rangefinder .

Klumpp wouldn't speculate or provide assertions about who did what wrong that day or where failures might have taken place.

But clearly, he said, "There was a significant failure in the (security) plan, the communication of the plan, and/or in carrying out the plan."

The Capital-Journal also received input this past week about protecting dignitaries, particularly presidents, from Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill and Topekan Roger Aeschliman, a retired Army Reserve colonel who carried out 200 dignitary protection missions in 2005 and 2006 during the Iraq War.

The Topeka Police Department declined to share information for this article.

Which presidents have visited Topeka in recent decades?

Presidents Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all visited Topeka while they were in office.

President Barack Obama flew in and out of Forbes Field in 2015 while speaking in Lawrence but didn't make any appearances in Topeka.

Trump appeared in October 2018 at a Make America Great Again rally held at what is now Stormont Vail Events Center in Topeka.

Law enforcement officers were busy that day watching protesters to the east of that building, along S.W. Topeka Boulevard.

How did a would-be assassin with a rifle get within 150 yards of Trump?

Trump was speaking at a rally July 13 when Thomas Michael Crooks fired at him from atop a building about 150 yards away in Butler, Pennsylvania, which the 2020 Census showed had a population of 13,502.

Trump suffered a wound to an ear while one attendee was killed and two others were critically wounded. Crooks was then fatally shot by the Secret Service.

In an interview on ABC News , Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said the Secret Service had been watching areas closer to Trump while local police were responsible for the "outer perimeter," including the building from which Crooks fired.

Three snipers from local tactical teams assisting the Secret Service were stationed inside the building from which Crooks fired. Officers didn't put anyone atop the roof because it was sloped and considered unsafe, Cheatle said.

A local police officer was hoisted by his partner just before the shooting to that roof, where he saw Crooks, who pointed a rifle at him. The officer, holding onto the roof's edge, dropped down to safety moments before Crooks fired at Trump.

'We would have been court-martialed and sent home in disgrace'

Trump's security detail on July 13 experienced "complete and total failure," Aeschliman said.

"If this had happened with one of our dignitaries in Baghdad, we would have been court martialed and sent home in disgrace," he said.

Senators, generals, foreign heads of state, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld were among those Aeschliman helped protect in Iraq, he said.

"The standard for success for dignitary protection is very simple: Alive and uninjured," Aeschliman said. "Anything other than that is failure."

The biggest failure of Trump's security detail appears to have involved a lack of communication and clear command and control between the Secret Service and state and local law enforcement officers, Aeschliman said.

He said officers should have fired a shot into the ground as soon as they learned of the imminent threat.

"Even back in my Boy Scout days, we learned to fire three shots into the air to signal danger," Aeschliman said. "If the local law enforcement had even fired one shot into the ground I guarantee the Secret Service would have gotten President Trump off the stage."

Sheriff Hill: His office's snipers don't need to wait for a 'green light'

Hill said there have been suggestions in the media that a Secret Secret sniper may have been slow to respond to the would-be assassin and may have been waiting to be given the "green light" to fire.

Hill said his office's tactical operators/snipers deployed in situations that include dignitary protection assignments follow the same use of force guidelines its street officers follow.

"If an officer sees a subject about to do great bodily harm or death, that officer is allowed by law to take deadly force actions," Hill said. "Any delay in that decision endangers individuals."

If the Secret Service's rules of engagement prevented a sniper from shooting first at Crooks, they need to revisit that, Aeschliman said.

"I think most of us would agree pointing a hunting rifle at a president is grounds for first strike," he said.

Aeschliman, who worked from 1981 to 1988 as a reporter for The Capital-Journal, also made reference to media reports suggesting trees may have prevented Secret Service snipers from seeing Crooks.

"The Secret Service, in advance, should have been on both roofs to ensure they had clear lines of sight and 360-degree control of the battlespace," he said. "If the Secret Service did not identify dead space in advance then that was a total failure of training and procedures."

Former Topeka police chief shares 'most burning question' he's asking

Creating security plans for events like the July 13 rally is always a challenge, Klumpp said.

"It is nearly impossible to plan for every possible scenario that might play out," he said. "In this case, an obvious threat point was clearly inadequately covered ... the rooftop of that nearby building. The fact that law enforcement anti-sniper teams were on other rooftops is an indication of the strategic advantage it gives a shooter, be it a defender or an offender of violence."

A rooftop may be secured by placing on officer on it, putting officers in a position to prevent access to it, or both, Klumpp said.

"The most burning question I have in my mind is 'What was the timeline of events from when the shooter was first recognized as suspicious to when he got onto the roof?' and, of more critical interest, 'The timeline from when he was first spotted on the roof and when the first shot was fired?'

"In particular, 'What was the communication timeline of reports received by officers from citizens, the officers reporting those reports and their observations to the command post or other officers, and the directions returned to those making the reports and other actions in response to those reports?'

"That timeline will be easy to document and will certainly be revealed at some point. It will be telling."

Former police chief: Suspicious people at rallies usually not 'bad actors'

Events such as the July 13 rally almost always involve observations of people acting in a way that raises "some level of suspicion," Klumpp said.

"Most turn out not to be bad actors, but rather just a display of odd behavior," he said. "I would guess that the shooter was not the only person that gained the attention of law enforcement the day of this event."

The failure of security plans for such events as the July 13 rally almost always results from more than just one lapse or error, Klumpp said.

"It is generally a series of gaps, actions or inactions that accumulate into a failure," he said. "Many times if just one of those is removed, a recovery is possible to still avoid an undesirable outcome. I suspect that is what will be revealed when the final reports are compiled in this case."

Former police chief: Investigators will create timelines on critical decisions

Numerous potential obstacles could have resulted in Crooks' getting so close to Trump with a rifle, Klumpp said.

"There could have been a gap in the assigned law enforcement coverage, more specifically a gap caused by something missed in planning or caused by a lack of clarity or understanding in communicating the plan," he said. "Were the expectations of local law enforcement clearly provided to every officer on scene regarding responses to various situations of concern? Especially with respect to the events surrounding the shooter before he is on the roof or seen with a firearm.

"There also could have been a lapse in the communications chain between the officers on the ground and the command post, including how many hands that communication process passed through before reaching the incident commander."

Some media reports that had been critical of particular actions or inactions need more context than has been provided, Klumpp said.

"Again, there must be more patience to wait for that full context and less early finger-pointing at individuals prior to the full facts being gathered, organized, and analyzed," he said. "For example, exactly when was the person in the Secret Service authorized to make the call to delay the appearance of former President Trump notified of the ramped-up concern surrounding the person eventually firing the shots especially when he was not under direct observation of law enforcement, or were they ever informed of that information?"

One important point people need to understand is that while the Secret Service may enjoy slightly more legal latitude to intervene and investigate suspicious activity at events involving presidents or presidential candidates, legal authority for local law enforcement to take such actions is no different at such events than it is at any other time or place, Klumpp said.

It will be critical for investigators to develop precise timeliness of all events and information transactions to analyze any decisions that were made to act or not act at the July 13 rally, he said.

"Eventually all of this will come out and there will be a great deal of guidance on lessons learned from this event," Klumpp said.

Sheriff talks about office's involvement with dignitary protection planning

Hill said he couldn't discuss specifics of what happened July 13 but was willing to talk about his agency's involvement with security planning for events involving dignitaries and elected officials, including Trump's 2018 Topeka visit.

"From the perspective of local law enforcement, there are a myriad of security issues that must be considered, including security of the event venue and all building and structures within the boundaries that cover the operational plan," Hill said. "This process starts with an open and productive dialogue with the primary protectorate agency, such as the United States Secret Service."

Those discussions need to occur well in advance of the event, or with as much advance notice as possible, Hill said.

"Through those communications, local agencies will  generally be tasked with certain responsibilities that may best be handled at the local level, such as traffic control and peripheral event and parking security," he said. "For a local agency, such as the sheriff’s office, this type of security operation can involve daily planning and coordination meetings leading up to the day of the event — and is likely to involve multiple meetings per day to ensure the availability of resources, sufficient staffing and designation of duties."

Local agencies might also be asked to provide criminal intelligence information on various issues and assist with electronic surveillance resources, such as traffic cameras and drones, Hill said.

"If there is an anticipation that protesters may be present at the event, local agencies may also be tasked with providing security for those areas as well," he said. "In addition, local agencies must be mindful that, while significant resources may be allocated to the event, police calls for service in the community don’t stop during that time."

Appropriate staffing and resources must be considered to ensure adequate levels of law enforcement service are maintained outside of the event, Hill said.

Another critical area of planning for local law enforcement involves creating a comprehensive communications plan, he said.

"In sum, for the local agencies involved in these events," Hill said, "it starts with ensuring that everyone within the agency understands the mission and their individual duties."

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: What Topekans with expertise in security say about Trump assassination attempt