A review of the security breach and arson fire at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence on April 13 has been completed, according to a state news release.
Governor Josh Shapiro and his family are protected by a specialized State Police unit that accompanies them to private and public events and provides security at their residences. The unit hired security consultant and former Pennsylvania State Police commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller to conduct an independent review which looked at protocols, identified gaps, and made recommendations for improvement.
“The Pennsylvania State Police worked to provide Mr. Miller and his team with the information they needed to assess security protocols before, during, and after the incident, and we are grateful to Mr. Miller and his team for completing their independent examination in a timely and professional manner,” said Colonel Christopher Paris. “We have already implemented several of Mr. Miller’s recommendations and we plan to continue making improvements to our security systems following a thorough review of the final report. The State Police value the trust of the people we serve, and I believe that this review by an independent examiner with first-hand knowledge of our Commonwealth government will help us continue to earn that trust. The State Police are doing everything possible to prevent anything like this attack from ever happening again.”
“I am confident that if fully implemented, the key recommendations that we have made will prevent an attack of this nature from succeeding in the future,” Miller said. “I am certain that the State Police and the men and women charged with protecting the Governor and his family will learn from this incident. I have every reason to believe that the State Police and Governor’s Office will act swiftly to implement our recommendations given the serious and thoughtful way they were received. In fact, we witnessed a number of changes being implemented by PSP during our site assessment.”
Miller also said that because security measures to protect Governor Josh Shapiro and his family are treated as protected information, the detailed recommendations will not be released to the public.
It’s unclear how much it will cost for those recommendations to be implemented. House Minority Leader Jesse Topper, who represents Bedford, is asking for transparency.
“It’s probably the No. 1 question I got when I went home that week from my constituents: How did this happen?” Topper told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday, as quoted by Spotlight PA. “I do think what happened and why it happened — the failures of the system — we do need some accountability for that. And transparency is the best way to provide that.”