State Officials Take Cautionary Approach in Wake of Security Breaches

While public officials in some parts of the country sought stepped-up security in the wake of the shootings at a political event in Arizona, Maryland lawmakers and officeholders said they were being prudent, practical and careful not to overreact.

Most officials in Maryland say they are taking the same approach they always have regarding safety and security.

“We don’t generally comment on security for security reasons,” said Brianne Nadeau, press secretary for Sen. John Sarbanes (3rd district), who represents parts of Howard County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County. “It’s our being prudent to not comment.”

Others said they were looking first to authorities like the U.S. Capitol Police, responsible for the protection of Congress members in Washington, to advise them on what they can do to make themselves and their staffs safer. “I have sent a letter to Capitol Police asking them to evaluate my district office,” said Rep. C.A. Ruppersberger, D-MD. The four-term Congress member said he has received threats in the past but is “most concerned about the staff in my district office and my wife.”

Ruppersberger, a former prosecutor and Baltimore County executive whose 2nd Congressional District includes communities in Owings Mills, Randallstown, Rosedale, Dundalk, Towson, Severn, Timonium and Cherry Hill in Baltimore, said he had traveled to Iraq with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, who was severely wounded in a shooting that left six dead outside a Tucson supermarket Saturday. “I’ll be waiting for the professionals to give us information” before making any security changes, he said.

Maryland lawmakers’ reactions were in contrast to some of their congressional colleagues' responses to the Tucson tragedy.

Maryland's middle-of-the-road approach

Rep. Peter King, R-NY, announced he will propose a law to make it illegal to carry a weapon within 1,000 feet of federal officials and members of Congress. Rep. Robert Brady, D-PA, said he wants to punish even the use of symbols or rhetoric that appears to threaten members of Congress. In New Hampshire, the state legislature voted Wednesday to allow lawmakers to carry weapons on the statehouse floor.

In Annapolis, where two incendiary packages were discovered in state office mailrooms last week, Gov. Martin O’Malley called for a measured approach. The governor has stressed that “fear in these instances doesn’t help alleviate the pain, but the bigger danger is falling into the temptation of despair,” press secretary Shaun Adamec quoted the governor as saying.

When the package incidents occurred, several state government buildings were evacuated, but “there are no extraordinary measures being taken” in the wake of the violence in Arizona, according to Adamec.

Many Maryland communities are home to sensitive federal facilities, but authorities reported that those offices are conducting business as usual.

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold said he had instructed that all county buildings be inspected for safety recently. “I am confident the county is prepared to protect citizens and their freedoms,” even at the new federal cyber security facility at Fort Meade, Leopold said. “Emergency operations personnel are constantly on the alert. We are prepared.”

Howard County takes extra precautions

Other jurisdictions are taking a few extraordinary steps. Howard County police and sheriff’s departments have been brought in to screen mail deliveries, said Elizabeth Schroen, police public information officer.

But, Howard County Sheriff James Fitzgerald said there have been no concerns or threats to judges, whose safety is his department's concern. His only plans included attending a routine security meeting Friday at the county courthouse.

Inspections of judges’ chambers and the courthouse, as well as alarm checks, are done on a weekly basis, according to Deputy Bob Brown of the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Department, but no new security procedures have been implemented, he said.