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Monday, February 8, 2010
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‘Amazing’ crowds at inaugural
Published February 3, 2009
An Alabama state trooper from Albertville was among thousands of law enforcement personnel providing security during President Barack Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20.
Sgt. Darrell Campbell, 37, worked a 17-hour day in the subfreezing temperatures as part of a 50-trooper contingent from Alabama.
A 1990 Boaz High School graduate, Campbell is a veteran trooper, serving more than 11 years with the Alabama Department of Public Safety. His law enforcement career includes three years as an Albertville police officer.
Since July 2007, Campbell has been post commander of the Huntsville Driver’s License Post, which also oversees offices in Guntersville, Fort Payne and Scottsboro.
The trooper sergeant said he was amazed by the crowds at the inauguration of the country’s first black president. But, he admitted, the cold weather made just as much of an impression.
“We roll into Washington probably close to 4 o’clock that morning, and the closer we get, the more congested it is,” Campbell said. “Traffic is bumper to bumper. It’s snarled. Hundreds of people are already on the sidewalks at 4 in the morning.
“There was a little confusion after we got there about exactly where we were supposed to be. We didn’t care. We were on the bus where it was warm. They carried us around several different places. Finally, they got us to our location. We were on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Sixth and Seventh streets. We could look up the street and see the Capitol building.
“The entire route of the parade was barricaded off to keep the crowd back. Already at 5 o’clock that morning, there were just hundreds of people everywhere lined up on the sidewalks.
“In our jobs, almost all of us have worked Talladega races, and University of Alabama and Auburn University football games, where you see a large number of people. But it was amazing to see such large numbers of people like that.
“We were only in one small area. We never did see the National Mall, but I understand it was really remarkable as far as the large number of people there.”
The hundreds of thousands of warm bodies in attendance didn’t provide much comfort in the bone-chilling cold.
“We were all lined along this barrier along the sidewalks the entire length of the parade route,” Campbell said. “Part of the time we were at what was called full strength and half strength. When we were at half strength, they allowed half of our group to go into what they called a warm-up room. We had warm-up rooms every few blocks.
“I don’t know what we would’ve done without them because it was extremely cold up there. However, I would say about two hours around the inauguration and about two hours around the beginning of the parade, we had to be at full strength. No one could go to the warm-up rooms. I think that was probably the biggest issue. It was just so extremely cold.
“We had troopers standing along the parade route, I’d say from 7 to 12 feet apart, just depending on the time of day. Then we had another line behind them, which were sergeants and above that included myself. Basically, our goal was to watch the crowd and look for any threats.
“The people on the parade route were just very excited. I know when President Obama came by, people were crying, some were laughing.”
Even personnel from up north were affected by the cold, said Campbell.
“It was a 17-hour day and a majority of that time was on our feet,” he said. “Even in the warm-up room, there were very few places to sit down. You’re talking temperatures from the upper teens to the upper 20s the entire day. Plus being down there on Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s almost like a tunnel for the wind. So the wind chill factors were even lower than that.
“We had all prepared for the cold weather. Everybody had bought some of the best cold weather gear on the market. Even with all that gear, everyone still got cold. Several troopers from some of the northern states were kidding us. They said, ‘We bet you guys from Alabama are really going to be cold.’
“Well, it wasn’t long before I think they were as cold as we were. As far as being out in the cold for such a long period of time, I think that’s what got most of us that day.”
Campbell glimpsed President Obama during the parade.
“I just got a glimpse of him in his car,” he said. “I could make out his outline and him waving. It’s very interesting when you’re standing on a parade route, and they’re announcing the President of the United States is driving right by you. There were a lot of other well-known public officials in the parade. Once President Obama passed, I’d say half the people left the area where we were.
“It was remarkable just being involved. It’s like we were told — and this was reiterated over and over — that this was such an historic event for us to attend.
“This is only the second time in history that Alabama has sent troopers to an inauguration. The last time we sent troopers, I understand, we sent about 20 troopers to Kennedy’s inauguration in the early ’60s.”
Campbell enjoyed interacting with fellow law enforcement personnel from around the country.
“Something that was interesting to us was meeting and visiting troopers from a lot of different agencies,” he said. “I know there on the parade route where Alabama left off, Rhode Island picked up one end. On our other end, Ohio Highway Patrol picked up. Then it was San Antonio, Texas, Police Department, then Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Across the street from us were the North Carolina Highway Patrol and the Georgia State Patrol.
“Everyone has a distinct uniform to represent their agencies with a lot of tradition. It was just interesting meeting all those guys, and when you talked to them, you find out a lot of the stuff is very similar to what we do. It’s just a different uniform in a different place.”
Campbell is glad to be back home and said Alabama was represented proudly.
“I know the entire group from Alabama was excited to attend, and I know everyone up there was proud to represent the Alabama Department of Public Safety and the state of Alabama,” he said.
“Everybody took great pride trying to make sure our uniforms looked good and professional. I thought the whole trip went very smooth as far as our involvement in it. No one got hurt, no one got sick and I didn’t hear of any major problems. We didn’t have any problems along the parade route.
“A lot of the people were very receptive to us. We had a lot of people come up and want their photo made with an Alabama trooper.”
Getting the e-mail
Campbell actually was surprised by the opportunity to work the inauguration.
“Sometime in the middle of 2008, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., sent a request to numerous law enforcement agencies throughout the country requesting their assistance with the inauguration,” he said. “Basically, the majors of our six divisions selected personnel from their divisions. We came up with Alabama sending 50 troopers from the rank of trooper all the way to lieutenant colonel. All ranks were represented.
“It was actually a total surprise for me. I did not know anything about it until sometime in November after the election. I got an e-mail one morning. I almost thought it was a joke at first. Then I opened the e-mail and it had an attachment with a memo with everyone’s names on it that had been selected. I was excited about it.
“I’ve gotten to attend a lot of different things as a state trooper. This was definitely something else in my career to participate in and remember.”
Campbell said the trip won’t cost Alabama taxpayers a penny and could include overtime and pay for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday for the troopers who worked.
“All of our expenses were paid for by the District of Columbia, including regular salary,” he said. “Alabama’s being reimbursed for all of our expenses. We were kind of on loan to them for the inauguration.
“We stayed in a hotel in downtown Baltimore overlooking the harbor, so we got to actually see two different places in one trip. Washington, D.C., had us a charter bus and also one of their police officers was our liaison. They escorted us everywhere we needed to go.
“We had some free time there in Baltimore that Sunday evening. I know most everybody walked around and visited the harbor area and visited some of the different attractions around there.
“On Monday, we were bused to American University and there we participated in a briefing of our duties. We were also sworn in or deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service for that period of time during the inauguration.
“After that, we visited the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington. Unfortunately, we did not have time to do much more because the traffic was very heavy. It took most of our time just traveling to the memorial, then out of Washington and back to Baltimore. We didn’t get back to Baltimore till about 7:30 that evening.”
Campbell said everyone had to be on a bus the following morning at 2:45 a.m.
“Inauguration day began early,” he said.
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