When Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump arrive Tuesday to open Vancouver’s Trump International Hotel and Tower, their entourage will be bigger than just their assistants and business associates.
As presidential progeny, they travel in a cocoon of protection courtesy of a U.S. Secret Service detail, which will be backed up by a perimeter of security provided by the RCMP and Vancouver police, the cost of which will fall on the public — both American and Canadian.
“We don’t pay for the Secret Service, that would be the Americans,” said Andre Gerolymatos, co-director of the Terrorism, Risk & Security Studies Program at Simon Fraser University.
However, when it comes to added costs, such as overtime for the RCMP — which is responsible for the security of so-called internationally protected persons — or Vancouver police, “we do,” Gerolymatos said.
How much likely can’t be answered until after the Trump brothers have left the city, but it will be on a scale that slides based on perceived levels of risk and depends on the number of officers involved.
On the American side, the Trump family has come under criticism over the cost of providing security for their high-profile, jet-setting lifestyle — including a business trips to Uruguay, where Eric Trump ran up an $88,000 hotel bill with his Secret Service detail, according to a report in the Washington Post.
For the Trump’s Vancouver visit, authorities involved declined to answer questions about protocols for arranging security and how responsibilities are delegated.
“Anybody with the name Trump, or related to Trump, is high risk right now because of what Trump is doing,” Gerolymatos said.
Calls to a U.S. Secret Service field office in Vancouver went unanswered.
RCMP spokeswoman, Cpl. Janelle Shoihet, in an emailed statement said the national police force is responsible for ensuring the safety of “internationally protected persons,” in conjunction with local police. It will be the Vancouver Police Department’s responsibility for “public order issues” and municipal bylaw infractions.
“In an event of unlawful acts, including public order issues, police will respond collectively in an appropriate and professional manner,” Shoihet said in the statement.
Vancouver police declined to answer any questions citing that “it would be counterproductive to share our plans in advance of events we may be preparing for,” according to an emailed statement from VPD spokesman Const. Jason Doucette.
There are at least two planned protests for the day of the Trump International Hotel & Tower’s grand opening, one by Occupy Vancouver and a Resist 4 Peace march, according to events posted to Facebook, with just over 600 people saying they will attend and another 4,000 clicking on their “interested” button.
And those will likely factor into the risk assessment for the Trumps’ visit, which was probably completed some time ago already, said Leo Knight, a former police officer and security expert.
“The police and the Secret Service will liaise with each other, they’ll have the latest intelligence analysis and all that stuff,” Knight said. “Then they’ll decide a security level for (the visit). It’s a movable scale, depending the situation.”
