The U.S. Secret Service: They’re tough. And they ride bikes.

@jrenaut 92201 wrote:

The Secret Service is the most self-important organization I’ve ever had any contact with. They actually said to us that complying with new DHS accounting regulations would require them to remove agents from the President’s detail, which is so BAT[expletive deleted] CRAZY that I can’t take anything they say at face value, ever.

They may pay lip service to bikes here and there, but they are actively hostile to anyone riding a bike anywhere near the White House, so F them.

I’ve interacted professionally with the Secret Service a LOT over the last ten years. This mostly includes circumstances where they aren’t on a security detail, but I also frequently have business in areas secured by them. Almost without exception I find the agents on an individual basis to be friendly, engaging, and professional. Almost always when I’m dealing with them in a security circumstance I’m impressed with their professionalism and efficiency. (In direct contrast to the Capitol police, SCOTUS security, and, of course, MPD.) Yeah they can be aggressive in security situations, especially where they are operating in relatively unsecured areas. I bike around the WH a fair amount and have never experienced any major incidents with them but I don’t doubt they look at cyclists as a particular kind of hard-to-defend-against threat, so no doubt some of the agents overdo it. As for the budget stuff. Unfortunately that’s bureaucratic SOP when it comes to budget battles and it’s certainly not unique to the Secret Service. Any reduction in our budget is a direct attack on the most critical part of our mission.

Maybe it’s just their accountants who are [expletive deleted].

@thucydides 92226 wrote:

I’ve interacted professionally with the Secret Service a LOT over the last ten years. This mostly includes circumstances where they aren’t on a security detail, but I also frequently have business in areas secured by them. Almost without exception I find the agents on an individual basis to be friendly, engaging, and professional. Almost always when I’m dealing with them in a security circumstance I’m impressed with their professionalism and efficiency. (In direct contrast to the Capitol police, SCOTUS security, and, of course, MPD.) Yeah they can be aggressive in security situations, especially where they are operating in relatively unsecured areas. I bike around the WH a fair amount and have never experienced any major incidents with them but I don’t doubt they look at cyclists as a particular kind of hard-to-defend-against threat, so no doubt some of the agents overdo it. As for the budget stuff. Unfortunately that’s bureaucratic SOP when it comes to budget battles and it’s certainly not unique to the Secret Service. Any reduction in our budget is a direct attack on the most critical part of our mission.

I guess we all have different experiences. Having worked at the White House and in Congress, I find that the Capitol Police are far friendlier and rational than the Secret Service. I think that part of it is that the Capitol and the Congressional buildings are open to the public, so the Capitol Police deal with “civilians” every day whereas the Secret Service does not as much.

@dasgeh 92261 wrote:

As someone who works at the Capitol complex and bikes by the WH daily, I’d say that individually officers of both SS and Capitol Police are hit or miss – the majority are friendly and helpful to cyclists, a significant minority are power-high jerks. Policy-wise, it seems SS is slightly more bike-friendly than Capitol Police: you can bike through the barriers at the WH, but not at the Capitol. There’s a lot more that both could do that would make our city a safer place to bike and walk around, without sacrificing the safety of those they are tasked with protecting.

It can certainly vary by officer. I never have a problem riding through barriers, but maybe it is because I’m on the “Peoples’ House” side of the Hill. :rolleyes:

Based on their propensity for bullying passersby and closing down major public areas for no apparent reason whatsofreakingever (no way in H-E-Double-Hockey Sticks does the Ellipse come under threat THAT often!), I think the Uniformed Secret Service are a bunch of power-happy Barney Fife clones.

Mixed bag like with my LEO type organizations. I used to bike by the WH every morning and now I bike by Sidwell. I actually prefer the folks up by Sidwell much more as they seem to be a little more laid back. Most of the ones are the WH were really good, but a few tools would get all pissy if you dared to go out some spot like at the middle of the ellipse, etc. I have never had a problem with the Capitol Police, but I also only bike through there maybe a handful of times each summer. In general, both are better than MPD.