WSP has spent $1.6 million on Capitol security: ‘Sometimes, we have to put costs aside’
Washington State Patrol’s intense security efforts at the Capitol Campus in Olympia over the last 13 days have cost more than $1.6 million, according to an estimate from the agency’s director of communications.
“Sometimes, we simply have to put costs aside and get the job done to keep Washingtonians safe,” Chris Loftis said, reading a quote from WSP Chief John Batiste. “This is one of those times.”
That amount for Jan. 6-19 doesn’t include costs incurred by other agencies that have provided resources to the effort, such as the Washington State National Guard or Department of Enterprise Services, which would handle the temporary fencing erected around key buildings on campus. It also doesn’t include costs for bolstered security going forward.
Loftis provided a breakdown of WSP’s 13-day total at an in-person press conference Wednesday morning. He said $1,507,450 had gone toward personnel costs, including $488,299 of regular time and $1,019,151 million in overtime.
Other estimated expenditures totaled $100,707, including $37,658 for food, $1,049 for supplies, $10,000 for equipment, and $52,000 for lodging.
It’s still to be determined where the money to pay for the costs will come from, he said in response to a reporter’s question.
The agency has pulled resources from all eight of its districts across the state, Loftis said. He declined to say how many WSP personnel were part of the effort, but said the agency isn’t “backing away” from the characterization that “hundreds” are involved.
The intense security effort on the Olympia campus has been in place since earlier this month. Jan. 6, dozens of President Trump supporters breached the gates to the Governor’s Mansion and spilled onto its grounds. That was the same day a mob stormed the nation’s Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Just a WSP cadet and sergeant were assigned to security at the governor’s grounds at the time of the breach, the State Patrol has confirmed, and a larger contingent arrived shortly after.
On Jan. 8, Gov. Jay Inslee announced he had activated the Washington State National Guard to be in Olympia with State Patrol and local law enforcement ahead of the first day of the state’s 2021 legislative session Jan. 11. Security efforts were later extended through the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden on Wednesday.
The campus was quiet Wednesday morning, with few visitors or National Guard members readily visible, but several law enforcement cruisers were parked on campus and fencing was still in place. State Patrol Sgt. Darren Wright reported there had been no incidents over the last couple days, including that morning.
State Patrol believes the heightened security presence is part of the reason for that. After listing the costs incurred so far by State Patrol, Loftis responded to a question of whether the expenditures were worth it:
“We feel that the presence that you have seen ... has contributed to the peace and calm that we have seen for the last 13 days. How much value do you put on that peace and calm? I can only answer that with: How much money would we, as a country, be willing to spend to go back to Jan. 6 and take the ... assault on our nation’s Capitol out of our history books?”
As of Wednesday morning, the Fusion Center in Seattle was unaware of any “criminal or validated threats targeting Washington state,” said State Patrol Lt. Curt Boyle, director of the center, which helps law enforcement agencies share information.
Loftis said there’s hope that a calm Wednesday could lead to a gradual draw-down of security over the following days.
But he said this is a new security environment in Washington state and the U.S., and that he thinks there will be “substantive changes in the way that we conduct our legislative and judicial business.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 1:45 PM with the headline "WSP has spent $1.6 million on Capitol security: ‘Sometimes, we have to put costs aside’."
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