Sheriff: Trump-Xi summit to get law enforcement hurricane treatment

April 06--The international summit in Palm Beach between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is being treated like an approaching hurricane by local law enforcement, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Wednesday.

Trump and Xi are scheduled to arrive separately on Thursday at Palm Beach International Airport for meetings at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate that will continue through Friday. Trump, as usual, will stay at Mar-a-Lago while Xi and the Chinese delegation will take over most of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa about seven miles south in Manalapan.

Bradshaw said there will be a "significant law enforcement presence" around the presidents. With potentially hundreds of protesters and supporters of Xi expected to gather in Manalapan, barriers and fencing have been installed there to keep crowds out of the streets and away from the hotel where the Chinese leader is staying.

Parking lots on Bingham Island -- a popular spot along Southern Boulevard for Trump supporters and critics as well as the media to gather just west of Mar-a-Lago -- will also be closed. People will be able to walk to the island from West Palm Beach.

"I cannot give you the (manpower) numbers, that's an operational issue, but we have gone to the same type of shifts that we have during a natural disaster, which is 12 hour shifts, and cancelled vacations. And we're going to use all of our manpower that we have at our fingertips," Bradshaw told reporters at a briefing at the county Emergency Operations Center. The sheriff was joined by police chiefs from Manalapan and Lantana and an assistant chief from Palm Beach.

Spokesman: Trump will not pay for Mar-a-Lago trips out of pocket

The sheriff's office, which typically spends $60,000 to $70,000 a day on overtime to assist the Secret Service when Trump visits, will spend double that amount with a second world leader in the county, said Bradshaw, who said he's confident local taxpayers will eventually be reimbursed by the federal government.

In addition to deputies and Secret Service, Bradshaw said an unspecified number of Chinese security personnel will accompany Xi and "their authorization is to work with us and protect him around his personal space."

Bradshaw said law enforcement will respond quickly to any protests that are deemed threatening.

"We are not going to tolerate any civil disobedience, throwing of objects, or any other type of disorderly conduct whatsoever. At the first sign of that, it will be dealt with," said Bradshaw, who said "mobile jails" will be in place near Mar-a-Lago and the Eau Palm Beach.

"People can come there, express their opinions, hold up all the signs they want to all day long, but when it turns to something other than that, then we are fully ready and capable to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand," Bradshaw said.

Including time Trump spent in Palm Beach as president-elect and five trips to Mar-a-Lago as president, Bradshaw estimates the sheriff's office has spent about $1.7 million on overtime before the upcoming visit. Local members of Congress have asked Trump to help secure federal money to reimburse local taxpayers. Bradshaw also spoke to Trump about it during a face-to-face meeting at Mar-a-Lago.

"I had a personal conversation with the president in February. He understands that. There's a system like everything else and unfortunately, the system involves Congress ... I'm sure they'll get around to it," Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw, a former West Palm Beach police chief who's now in his fourth term as sheriff, said the Trump-Xi summit is the largest security undertaking of his career.

"That's huge when you have two people like that in the same place," Bradshaw said of Trump and Xi. "You actually are running two security details along with the Secret Service, two motorcades and getting those people to and from where they need to be."

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