Police have prepared for event of this scope for years
By Michele Holtkamp
Tribune-Star
When Shana Kennedy, an Indiana State Police sergeant at the Lafayette post, was told she would relocate to Terre Haute for a few high-profile days in May, she didn't think twice.
"We're used to it, wherever they tell us we need to go, we go," said Kennedy, the public information officer at the Lafayette post.
Kennedy will accompany Herb Jones, the public information officer for the Terre Haute post, in the days surrounding Timothy McVeigh's execution, answering questions posed by an estimated 1,300 members of the media.
"It's just part of the job," Kennedy said.
For most police involved in the days surrounding the execution of the Oklahoma City bomber, the plans have been in the works for years.
"I've been upset by some of the terminology being used, such as 'circus' and that we're running about not knowing what's going to happen," said Bill Harris, Vigo County sheriff.
"Meeting and discussing the eventual coming of this day has been several years - since the death chamber was constructed," Harris said.
Fifty U.S. marshals will be in the area during McVeigh's execution, along with 30 FBI agents and 650 Bureau of Prisons employees.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight restriction around the penitentiary grounds starting the afternoon before the execution. Essentially aimed at keeping helicopters away, the restriction prohibits flying within one mile of the penitentiary and dropping within 1,000 feet of the ground, said Charles Goodwin, director of the Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field. Goodwin said the order is in effect for 24 hours beginning 4 p.m. May 15.
Planning such a massive undertaking has forced prison officials and city, county and state police to work together in a way that Warden Harley G. Lappin thinks has only made the community better.
"I could not be more pleased with the partnership that has evolved throughout this entire operation," Lappin said. "I think it will make the community safer and allow us to accomplish this task in the safest, most secure manner possible."
The city's 40-officer crowd control unit, which has been training for nearly a year, will store its gear at police headquarters - out of public view but close in case it's needed, said James Horrall, chief of city police.
"We don't want to portray an image of bad things," Horrall said.
Jones said 10 troopers have been added to the usual 25 that cover the five-county district that includes Terre Haute in a 24-hour period, and shifts will be adjusted.
State Police Maj. Monte McKee said early morning hours are usually peak staffing times on normal weekdays, so it would not be a problem to get additional troopers to the area, if needed.
Every sheriff's deputy will work the day of the execution - a first for the department.
"I want to stress that there will be deputy sheriffs in every section of the county throughout this time period, handling business as normal," Harris said.
The additional waves of security will begin working Friday, and when McVeigh is lethally injected at 7 a.m. Wednesday, 39 deputies will be working, Harris said.
Deputies will work 12-hour shifts instead of eight and won't have their normal days off.
City police will add three temporary command centers to the two stations in Terre Haute. The YWCA in Fairbanks Park will close for the day to allow officers to set up post. Officers will also set up at Voorhees Park. A post on the grounds of the U.S. Penitentiary will serve all police, Horrall said. Paramedics also will be stationed in the parks.
All 120 city police officers will work one of two 12-hour shifts, the first beginning at 6 a.m. At least one city officer will ride each bus that transports demonstrators from the parks to the prison grounds.
And a Special Response Team has been trained on how to remove people from buses who should not be there and to rescue people from unruly, violent crowds.
"We're getting a lot of training that we normally wouldn't have had," Horrall said. "The eyes of the world are going to be on Terre Haute, and we want to come across as the professional and proud police department that we are."
The city's 25-year-old communication system is being temporarily replaced by high-tech radio gadgets loaned to the city specifically for the McVeigh execution, said Dick Setliff, Vigo County's Emergency Management director. The new 800-MHz radios will significantly speed up response time, Setliff said.
"It's time we think about the priorities of being able to communicate in a major event, or a major disaster," Setliff said. "It's a good time to test, to plan and to learn. This is a good experience for all of us."
The radios allow more than one officer to talk at a time and car-to-car talk while not interfering with dispatch. The devices will keep those on special assignments dealing with the McVeigh execution from tying up the channels needed by officers on normal patrols and calls for service, said Jeff Trotter, assistant chief of city police. The ordinary radios will still be used.
Less than half the city's officers have already been using the radios, and Trotter said back-up communication systems won't be needed.
"I know it's going to work, we're just so pleased with it," he said.
Setliff said that although the radios are only on loan, he hopes the city and county councils will decide to outfit all local law enforcement and emergency responders with them.
"It's costly to start buying new equipment," Setliff admitted. "If you need help, you need help, and that is top priority."
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