Security Drops Net--Toy Guns, Parked Cars Are Suspect

When a policeman recently approached officials at Yorba Linda Preschool and Day Care about using it as a security base for Thursday’s dedication of the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace, he looked around with concern at the playing children.

“He said that if we had any toy guns we’d better put them away,” recalled Carol John, an assistant director at the school.

From a real estate office next door, meanwhile, U.S. Secret Service agents began jotting down license numbers of vehicles lingering in the area a full two weeks before President Bush and former Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Ford were scheduled to appear at the dedication of the nation’s ninth presidential library.

With the big day drawing ever nearer, a security net the likes of which Yorba Linda has never seen is descending rapidly over the sleepy bedroom community of 50,000 residents.

Teams of Secret Service agents--one for each President--are being deployed to provide protection. Bomb-sniffing dogs and walk-through metal detectors are being readied for use at the site. More than 150 Orange County police officers are rehearsing for their role in ringing the library and surrounding streets. Even helicopter gunships are being made available--just in case.

Although no one is expecting trouble--the vast majority of the estimated 20,000 people expected to turn out are predicted to be staunch Nixon loyalists--Secret Service officials say they can never be too ready.

“We go in wary at all times,” said Hamilton (Ham) Brown, a retired Secret Service agent and executive secretary of the Former Agents’ Assn. in Annandale, Va. “As a matter of fact, the more friendly the crowd the more vigilant we become because you expect the unexpected.”

Security preparations for the dedication have been jointly planned by the Secret Service and Brea Police Department, which provides police protection for Yorba Linda. According to Brea Police Lt. William Lentini, the two entities have been meeting constantly in recent weeks to work out such details as street closures and officer placements.

For its part, Lentini said, the Brea Police Department will be heading a contingent of more than several hundred uniformed officers from Brea as well as the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and nearly every department in the county, including Anaheim, Placentia, Fullerton, La Habra, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Westminster and Costa Mesa. All those officers, he added, would primarily be responsible for crowd and traffic control--but would also be available to deal with any demonstrations that got out of control or handle other unforeseen problems.

Lentini said he did not expect trouble, however.

“It’s a very ‘pro’ event,” Lentini said, adding that he anticipates many families in attendance. Lentini said an area will be provided for demonstrators.

“We recognize our obligation to provide an opportunity for those with different points of view to express their feelings and concerns,” he said.

The police will be using grounds at the preschool to store equipment and to give officers a place to rest.

As is their custom, Secret Service agents were closemouthed about the specifics of their security preparations. Richard Adams, a Secret Service spokesman in Washington, emphasized, though, the importance his agency attaches in working with local law enforcement such as the Brea police.

“We are on local law enforcement turf,” Adams said.

Adams said the groundwork for the library dedication was laid by the Los Angeles office of the Secret Service, while the intricate details of security would be handled by a Secret Service detail assigned to protect President Bush. Those agents, he said, generally arrive at a presidential venue a week ahead of time.

Both Reagan and Ford have their own Secret Service details, which Adams said will be coordinated by the main presidential team. Nixon did away with his Secret Service protection in 1985 and has used private security since. Nixon personal assistant John Taylor said the former President would defer to the Secret Service in protecting him for his library visit. Taylor declined to discuss the security arrangements.

Nixon is scheduled to arrive at Yorba Linda Middle School via helicopter and then be whisked to the library a few blocks away by police motorcade, said Roy Stephenson, Yorba Linda city engineer. The former President will be flying from the Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles, arriving in Yorba Linda at about 7 a.m.

Former Presidents Reagan and Ford will be arriving in bulletproof limousines. Bush will have spent the night in the Anaheim Hilton.

If past experience is any indication, however, former agent Brown said Bush’s helicopter would shuttle him to the library site.

Before any Presidents arrive, the Federal Aviation Administration will have already sealed off the airspace around the library to all unauthorized traffic. FAA spokeswoman Elly Brekke said her agency routinely does this at the request of the Secret Service. The airspace restrictions usually are lifted after the dignitaries have left, she said.

Although Secret Service officials would not comment about enforcement of airspace violations, Brown said local police agencies and even the Marines all have armed helicopters on standby to deal with any aerial encroachments.

On the ground, Brown said, the Secret Service will conduct sweeps of the nine-acre library grounds with bomb-sniffing dogs and other bomb-detection apparatus. The uniformed branch of the Secret Service will also set up metal-detecting machines at entrances to the dedication site so all visitors can be screened for weapons, Brown said.

The machines were put into use after Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme attempted to assassinate former President Ford in Sacramento in September, 1975, Brown said. He said that having the visitors checked gives a little more peace of mind to the Secret Service.

If anything were to happen, Brown said the Secret Service would throw all of its protection around the Presidents. If it came down to it, Brown said Bush would receive the most security.