Candidates’ security is a local police concern

YOUNGSTOWN — Though presidential candidates’ close-up security falls to Secret Service agents, local police provide peripheral support.

Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said roughly 80 percent of the resources needed for candidates’ visits — and the attendant cost — is handled by police in the communities where the candidates appear or pass through while campaigning.

“The cost for every candidate is different, depending on where they stay and how long they’re here,” Hughes said Tuesday. “The best I can do to save overtime is divert officers on regular time.”

To save overtime costs, the chief said he tries to reassign officers from the Street Crimes Unit, for example, to work security for candidates. His goal is to have 75 percent of the officers working a candidate detail be on regular time. Right now, about half of the officers working such details are being paid overtime, he said.

Ohio’s primary election is March 4. As the date nears, this area has become a blip on candidates’ radar.

If a candidate lands at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, police in the communities leading into Youngstown, for example, handle the task of closing intersections to allow the motorcade an unimpeded route. City police, along with Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, then provide the escort.

Read more in Wednesday’s Vindicator and at Vindy.com