EASTPOINT, Fla. — The voters had not yet shown up at the volunteer firehouse for Rep. Steve Southerland II’s first town hall meeting here in Franklin County. Across the way, the Sluggers and Shooting Stars were still practicing on the Little League diamonds.
But the officers who protect this fishing hamlet of 2,158 on Florida’s Panhandle were on alert. Even before Southerland’s staff arrived to set up chairs and a slide projector for Wednesday night’s forum, four sheriff’s deputies were patrolling the empty venue. Two of them wore plain clothes, hoping to blend into the crowd of 50 townsfolk who would eventually stream in. A fifth deputy was escorting the congressman.
There had been no indication that Southerland, a freshman Republican, would be in any danger during his visit. But at the other end of Florida, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was arriving at Cape Canaveral so she could see her husband off at Friday’s launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.
Giffords’s first public outing since being shot at a constituent meet-and-greet in January served as a fresh reminder to her congressional colleagues — and to the local law enforcement agencies protecting them back home — not to take chances.
For Southerland, that meant not only stationing officers at the firehouse but also arming his staff with concealed weapons.
“We believe that’s just smart,” Southerland said in an interview, adding that he obtained permits for his staff to carry handguns. Several of his Florida aides now come to work armed. “When you’re mixing politics and emotion on both sides, it would be irresponsible for us not to take necessary precautions,” he said.
Since the Tucson shootings, U.S. Capitol Police have urged members of Congress to be more vigilant. Lawmakers’ aides now coordinate public activities in home districts with local law enforcement authorities. There are new protocols for reporting death threats, strange phone calls and suspicious Facebook postings.
And the Secret Service is planning seminars for lawmakers and their staffs on how to assess the security of venues to minimize risk at gatherings.
There is cause for the concern. Between October and March, 53 serious threats against members of Congress were reported, a 13 percent increase from the same six-month period a year earlier, law enforcement authorities said. At the same time, the number of non-criminal cases (such as alarming but not specifically threatening e-mails or phone calls) jumped by 18 percent, to 1,211.
“Unlike a year ago when it was all health care, these threats run the social-economic gamut: health, pay benefits, veterans issues, Medicare,” said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance W. Gainer, a member of the Capitol Police Board.
Gainer said federal and local prosecutors have filed more charges this year against suspected perpetrators than in previous years, although he did not have a specific number. He said one reason for the uptick could be that staffs are reporting incidents with more regularity.
Read more at The Washington Post.