Security tightens for inauguration

Road closures, beefed-up security and parking restrictions are only some of the measures the University and city have planned to manage the throngs of people expected for the inauguration next week, administrators said.

Nearly all of the Foggy Bottom campus will be inside the Secret Service’s security perimeter to enforce security restrictions on the days surrounding Jan. 20.

The National Guard will be working with the Metropolitan Police Department Special Operations Division to enforce security restrictions throughout the inauguration. National Guard officers will be stationed along the security perimeter across Pennsylvania Avenue, down 23rd Street and along Constitution Avenue, often in pairs, said John Petrie, assistant vice president for public safety and emergency management.

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To access campus on Inauguration Day, students may need to show GWorld cards to security personnel, though specifics remain uncertain. Nonstudent residents who live on campus may need to provide government identification with their local address, officials said. The 1,480 guests that registered to stay on campus will be issued identification cards with their name and temporary residence. Petrie stressed it is crucial for all students and guests to keep their identification with them at all times.

The University Police Department has contracted about 50 additional security officials from the security firm AlliedBarton to monitor residence halls. The new personnel will work in two shifts and supplement an already increased UPD officer presence, said UPD Chief Dolores Stafford.

No parking and very limited vehicular traffic will be allowed on campus beginning the afternoon of Jan. 19.

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