The security detail at the Governor’s Mansion in the days leading up to June 8’s disastrous firebombing of the historic residence was understaffed and undertrained, and electronic security equipment was disabled or not properly functioning. That was the conclusion of Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Michael Escalante in testimony this afternoon before the Texas Public Safety Commission, which oversees the DPS.
The mansion was being guarded that morning by a single trooper, near the end of his 10pm-2am shift, immediately after he had already put in an 8-hour shift at the Bob Bullock State History Museum, Escalante said.
In addition to some cameras being disabled on site due to ongoing renovation construction work, some infrared motion detectors, despite being on, were unable to work properly because of construction debris blocking them. Escalante said requests had been made to have the equipment fixed, but that the repairs were “an ongoing process.” Escalante said that given those equipment failures, there should have been more troopers on the grounds of the mansion. Of the troopers that were assigned to the mansion, “some got training, some did not,” he said, adding that the training was “passed on” from one group of troopers to the next, and “some troopers were familiar with the cameras and [infrared detectors],” but this familiarity was not consistent from one trooper to the next.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Commission Chairman Allan B. Polunsky said he would request that the U.S. Secret Service come in to review and assess security at the mansion and other state properties and “advise” the department, and said “this is likely not the finest moment for the DPS.” However, he also defended the DPS as “superior and excellent, still one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the nation.”
This article appears in June 13 • 2008.