General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBREAKING: Secret Service says fence-jumper made it through North Portico doors of White House
@AP: BREAKING: Secret Service says fence-jumper made it through North Portico doors of White House
m.twitter.com/AP
steve2470
(37,457 posts)hlthe2b
(102,239 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)USSS Official: Fence jumper incident is under investigation and the USSS will review the response to make sure proper protocol is followed.
Replied to 0 times
Kristen Welker @kwelkernbc · 5m
Law enforcement official: The location of this individual's arrest at the WH is not acceptable to the USSS and will be closely reviewed.
Replied to 0 times
Kristen Welker @kwelkernbc · 7m
USSS: The fence jumper was apprehended just inside the north portico doors of the white house. Suspect identified as: Omar J. Gonzalez
https://twitter.com/kwelkernbc
morningfog
(18,115 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)over the past few years...
merrily
(45,251 posts)occur when they were somewhere doing advance work to prepare a venue for a visit by the President?
This is the White House and odds are, no member of the Secret Service who was there was off duty. Each family member has his or her own secret service detail. As far as their job goes, the White House is duty central.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)But there is no excuse for this.
So someone was asleep at the wheel.
merrily
(45,251 posts)so, based on your reply, I don't know you if you did get my meaning.
My point was that, at the White House, they are supposed to be a hell of a lot more vigilant than when they knock off for the night in Lima, Peru, when the President has not yet even arrived in Lima.
Of course, I posted that before I realized that the First Family was not in the White House but still.....
Response to merrily (Reply #19)
LiberalArkie This message was self-deleted by its author.
merrily
(45,251 posts)seabeyond
(110,159 posts)BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)Per @kwelkernbc - fence jumper made it inside north portico doors of White House - suspect went to GW hospital for medical eval #whitehouse
https://twitter.com/kristindonnelly/status/513168030449549312
merrily
(45,251 posts)I'm glad the person got no further, but jeez. I am sure he or she was never supposed to get that far.
As soon as the person is over the fence that should be enough for them to come in an arrest the person. Someone in the Secret Service bumbled the response as it's got to be a good distance from the fence to the portico doors even running full speed. While they did catch the guy, him getting that close to the building is a huge failure on the part of the Secret Service.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)What if this person had been carrying a bomb and had made it to the portico doors? This is a major fail on the part of the Secret Service.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)sophisticated security system in addition to the Secret Servise.
MADem
(135,425 posts)WASHINGTON A man jumped over the fence of the White House on Friday and made it into the presidential residence before officers managed to apprehend him, the U.S. Secret Service said. President Barack Obama and his family were not at home at the time.
Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas, was taken into custody just inside the North Portico doors, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said. He was placed under arrest and was transported to a Washington hospital after complaining of chest pain.
Donovan said the suspect appeared to be unarmed to officers who spotted him jumping the fence, and a search of the suspect turned up no weapons.
The incident prompted a rare evacuation of much of the campus. White House staffers and Associated Press journalists inside the West Wing were evacuated by Secret Service officers, some with their weapons drawn.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/275845731.html
TexasTowelie
(112,160 posts)It makes me wonder whether the intruder might have some ties to either the military or militia groups. Very disturbing.
Response to Hissyspit (Original post)
Post removed
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)72 hours and a prescription are certainly not enough if you release a mentally ill person into the street, where the stress alone is likely to drive them to do extreme things.
Before opining that they need to be "locked up", though, perhaps consider that this has something to do with the collapse of welfare infrastructure in California (and I'm sure other States as well). While the situation differs from county to county, "welfare" reform meant making it impossible for single people without children to live on welfare. For instance, in the county where I live you can only get General Assistance welfare (which is a LOAN, not "free money" for 3 months out of the year unless you have a doctor's support as being too disabled to work: and doctors seem particularly disinclined to support this - either out of personal prejudice or legal concerns. Once you do have the diagnostic code you need, you can get at max, $336 a month that goes DIRECTLY TO A LANDLORD. Note that's less than half of market rate for a room in major urban areas (especially for places that are convenient to to downtown areas, which people on welfare need since there is NO TRANSPORTATION SUBSIDY). The only "welfare" single people are eligible for besides this is food stamps. So how are they supposed to pay for basic necessities: bills, hygiene products, light bulbs, laundry, stamps, cleaning supplies, bus tickets to REQUIRED appointments, etc.?
This situation is deliberately made impossible to motivate people to get off welfare by working. However, if you are disabled (or mentally ill), and you are applying for SSI - a multi-year process - you will screw your case by working. By working, you prove you can work.
Furthermore, you do not just do your paperwork and get "ensconced" in the welfare system. Social Services defaults to cutting you off (which jeopardizes your housing arrangements and ability to obtain food) every time something changes for you and THEY MAKE AN ERROR. Click my sig if you want to see what happens when I tried to do some casual work. A further ramification not mentioned there is I lost Medi-Cal, and I'm still struggling to get it back.
So the mentally ill generally have difficulty holding down a job and retaining a stable housing situation. They are at the bottom of society. And welfare policy in California is such as to DELIBERATELY DRIVE PEOPLE INTO HOMELESSNESS in the name of hoping some of them will "fall through the cracks" and save the State some money.
And your opinion about the problem is we aren't locking enough people up and they aren't taking their meds?
No.
The problem is California's sense-it-makes-not welfare policies are PRODUCING the mentally ill and EXACERBATING the problem, and people are choosing to pull opinions out of their ass about it instead of learning something about how thousands of real people are literally being tortured on American soil.
sunnystarr
(2,638 posts)but I fail to see how it applies to this thread. There's no mention of anything you detailed in this issue, not even in the link which gave further details. Do you know something we don't about the intruder? Or are you making wild guesses that fit into your own issues?
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)That lumped together 3 "stalking" incidents and attributed them all to our failure to lock up the mentally ill.
I thought some education via comment was required.
sunnystarr
(2,638 posts)I just found it distracting to the subject addressed by the op and your post just wouldn't get the attention it deserves.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I can see how it looks like thread hijacking, and I'm sorry for that.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with the topic.
The hidden post brought up 3 incidents of "mentally ill" people (2 in California) and proposed that we lock them all up because they were refusing to take their meds.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)I would have liked to address the comment that was jury-hidden though. What's the DU protocol on that, since now my reply makes no sense?
It doesn't really work as a separate OP either, since I have other welfare OPs. But I'd still like the my response to this guy's oblivious remark to stand.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)TexasTowelie
(112,160 posts)You beat me to it and expressed the situation very well.
I hope things are going well for you. The SS people finally got the paperwork from my time at the crisis center this week and I'm going to have to update my "Function Report" to them over the next few days so I'll be writing version 2.0 this weekend to pass along to my disability attorneys.
The good news is that my brother was re-hired by the hospital where he works on a full-time basis which has reduced his stress level and we aren't going to see each other very much next week so that should keep my stress level in check. I was also approved for the indigent care program so that also helps.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)Actually things got exponentially worse for me. My social worker deleted my Medi-Cal coverage from the database at the start of September, and nothing has been done about it. I've had no coverage, no medications, no appointments, no referrals, and all manner of things f'd up for 3 weeks now, and no end in sight. Sigh.
But, to unhijack the thread, I'm sure none of this has anything to do with some guy trying to break into the White House who may or may not be mentally ill.
The last news update says the guy was taken the hospital for chest pains, not a psych evaluation.
TexasTowelie
(112,160 posts)that sucks.
I'm sort of wondering what is happening regarding the indigent care program because I was supposed to be sent a plastic card for prescriptions and it didn't arrive this week. It's only a few days overdue, but I'll have to refill my insulin prescription within the next couple of weeks so I'll need to follow-up next week. I've come to expect the worst when dealing with government services recently so if something goes correctly then I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Good luck getting your situation resolved quickly.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)postulater
(5,075 posts)to the local police to fight terrorists with. That would stop em.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Someone who was supposed to be paying attention--probably more than one person--was not paying attention. More equipment would not have mattered.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Someone's head is going to roll on this one.
Laffy Kat
(16,377 posts)This simply cannot happen.
951-Riverside
(7,234 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)only brings it out for parades. Haven't seen or heard of misuse but the DC police chief doesn't seem like the type of woman who would allow her ranks to overuse their toys.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)But wasn't the intruder from Texas...?
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)You now have an image of pudgy ole bald Louie Gohmert struggling to climb over a fence in your head.
You're welcome.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)philosslayer
(3,076 posts)How could the Secret Service allow this to happen? This is simply unacceptable.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)He made it into the White House. We're lucky a) he had no weapon and b) that the Obamas had already left the White House.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)napi21
(45,806 posts)Most likely unemployed as well. I worked with a former SS agent and another good friend & his wife were in the SS. They are VERY STRICT. It doesn't take anything near as serious as this infraction to get tossed out!
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)As soon as the guy jumped the fence, bullets should have been flying in every direction.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)What if the guy had been carrying a bomb or assault weapon?
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)looks like the system worked as it should.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)All the experts on non-lethal arrest took the night off
LisaL
(44,973 posts)Secret Service assumed he was unarmed.
He was actually armed.
He had a knife.
He made it inside the doors.
The system failed.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)I don't like seeing people killed.
ETA: When the story was first reported there was no report of a knife.
That said: I don't like seeing people killed. I prefer to see people arrested and tried in a court of law.
procon
(15,805 posts)The Secret Service has never given President Obama the respect he deserves. What were they all doing that this was allowed to happen??? If the president's security is this incompetent he's not even safe at home and neither is his family. They need to clean house and fire every agent that was on duty, their supervisors and the Director. Maybe that would be enough incentive, or a reminder, of just how serious their duty is.
It worries me that more nuts will see this as an opportunity to try the same thing.
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)Didn't want to link because the URL is ridiculously long.
Looks like the jumper planned to stay awhile. They appeared to be wearing a backpack.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)mainer
(12,022 posts)Maybe Secret Service isn't as vigilant during these periods.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts).... they became complacent and the incident would trigger more attention .....after the second incident all I can say is WTF!
LisaL
(44,973 posts)How could they became complacent in such a short time (4 minutes) just because POTUS wasn't there?
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts).... the second incident .... my God
City Lights
(25,171 posts)Oy!