 "Photo: Nick Toce | The Daily Mississippian")
As the University of Mississippi campus and the Oxford community prepare for the first presidential debate of the 2008 election season, state and national law enforcement agencies are doing the same to ensure the safety of the presidential candidates – Barack Obama and John McCain – along with students, community members and the expected 3,000 journalists.
“We’re bringing in many assets from within the Secret Service, not to mention the other departments throughout the county to assist us,” said Allen Bryant, resident agent in charge for the Mississippi Secret Service in Jackson.
However, Bryant said specifics about security plans cannot be made public.
“We’re trying to be very careful with knowing that we are going to place an impact on the city of Oxford and off campus,” Bryant said. “I can’t comment on anything specific on that part of the security plan: how many, who, where, what – any of that.”
Although Bryant could not give an exact number of total law enforcement officials who will be present during Friday’s debate, he said the security plan has been in the works for about 10 or 11 months and will include enforcement from the Secret Service, the University Police Department, the Oxford Police Department, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department and state police.
“I think we have a great plan in place,” Bryant said. “I think we have a lot of good assistance from the state and local agencies and from what we’re bringing in, and I think it’s going to go fine.”
UPD Chief Calvin Sellers said his officers will tend to all the on-campus activities and will not have any involvement with the debate unless the Secret Service requests their help.
UPD will be in charge of security on campus all week, and on Friday they will control parking and traffic and will be primarily posted up in the Grove, Sellers said.
“(We’re doing) just about everything we can,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of activities on the campus that day besides just the debate. We’ve got the festival in the Grove and programs all week, such as Tom Brokaw. There will be things all week that we’ll be tending to, but our biggest day of course will be Friday.
“The bands and the food and everything in the Grove will keep us pretty busy.”
Cobra Security owner Wayne Mills said his department is in charge of guarding the Gertrude C. Ford Center, the site of the debate.
“(We’re guarding the Ford Center) to keep the area clean of anyone who might come in there,” Mills said.
Anyone who attempts to approach the debate hall without a pass from the police will be turned away, Mills said.
Cobra will guard the auditorium until further instruction from the Secret Service, he said.
As for the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Buddy East said they have not been given a specific destination to guard, but he believes his department will be used as backup.
“We’re just going to be the support, more or less,” East said. “Whatever they (the Secret Service) need, we will assist them.”
The Oxford Police Department would not comment on their role in keeping the campus secure and referred all questions to the Secret Service.
Overall, law enforcement officials said they believe the campus will be safe, and there should be no reason to worry, especially about protestors.
“There is an area that has been reserved – a protest area – at the band practice field,” Sellers said.
“We’ll have people assigned to that area too. We’re prepared for any group to show up. We’ve put a lot of thought and planning into this and we’re prepared for it.”
Bryant felt the security plan will be effective. However, he would not comment on whether there have been any threats to the campus.
“Any time we have a candidate go anywhere in the world, we work to eliminate any concern we have – whether we have specific intelligence or we don’t,” Bryant said. “At any town we go to, we’re going to treat it with the same level of intensity no matter what or who it is.”
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