Police report full cooperation
By Michele Holtkamp
Tribune-Star
Monday's execution of Timothy J. McVeigh resulted in just a couple of demonstrators' arrests, leaving local police to deal only with backed-up traffic on Indiana 63 in front of the U.S. Penitentiary.
"It went really, really smooth," said Jeff Trotter, assistant chief of the Terre Haute Police Department. "Everybody knew, as far as the demonstrators, what the rules were, and they cooperated fully."
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have been coordinating security issues with Bureau of Prison officials for more than a year for the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber.
City police made only two execution-related arrests in a 48-hour period, Trotter said, and a few other protesters had tried to gain access to the prison overnight on foot.
Indiana State Police officers didn't make any arrests. And the closest problem to the penitentiary for Vigo County officers was a drunk driver on Sunday night.
That left local cops sleepy but smiling as they made their ways from temporary command centers in and near the prison.
"It went great," Vigo County Sheriff William Harris said shortly before noon Monday.
Trotter said not near as many demonstrators showed up as what local officials had planned for. Buses transported about 300 anti-death penalty demonstrators and only about 20 pro-death penalty demonstrators.
Demonstrators were to meet at Fairbanks and Voorhees parks and be transported via Bureau of Prison buses to the penitentiary grounds. Demonstrators were not allowed to simply walk onto penitentiary grounds. A city police officer accompanied each bus.
Officers were in constant contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and did not receive any information regarding possible threats relating to the execution.
"That was the amazing thing about this," Harris said. "During our year-long planning, the FBI and any law enforcement agency never came up with any threats or any allegiance to Timothy McVeigh."
Although officials had planned to open up a court to process those arrested near the execution or parks, they decided early Monday that it wouldn't be necessary.
Such a crowd of less than 500 demonstrators is very manageable, said Trotter, who spent 36 hours, beginning 5:30 a.m. Sunday, at the police headquarters at the YMCA.
Harris said he thinks the fact that McVeigh's execution did happen after so many legal experts said it wouldn't kept a lot of protesters from the prison.
"I think it was probably very difficult for a lot of the demonstrators to travel to Terre Haute on such short notice," Harris said.
State officers, who patrolled Indiana 63 heavily, said that as many as 1,500 members of the media crossing the highway, along with the increased traffic of on onlookers, created traffic backups.
"But that was the only problem, and that was a minor problem," Ringle said.
Extra state troopers stayed on duty at least through Monday, and city police will revert to their normal shifts beginning today.
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