--- title: Trump Inauguration: How Police Are Preparing for Protests description: Law enforcement officials in the nation's capital are finishing final preparations for crowds of an estimated 1 million people canonical: https://time.com/4639525/donald-trump-inauguration-security-police/ author: Josh Sanburn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-19T20:27:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:14:04.611Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Security Officials Are Working to Keep Donald Trump's Inauguration Safe og:description: The crowds present a unique challenge og:url: https://time.com/4639525/donald-trump-inauguration-security-police/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e4e40a0f8a263b/6988b636cd1bba0d29703a87/inauguration-security.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-PREPARATIONS-INAUGURATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Security Officials Are Working to Keep Donald Trump's Inauguration Safe twitter:description: The crowds present a unique challenge twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e4e40a0f8a263b/6988b636cd1bba0d29703a87/inauguration-security.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Security Officials Are Working to Keep Donald Trump's Inauguration Safe > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=735a6b56-b89c-460b-8ee6-5678a9857a9d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump Runs for President: A Look Back [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Runs for President: A Look Back](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dgn8DCbB.m3u8) (7:19)  _Published 2016-10-31. In one of the most shocking U.S. elections in modern political history, Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton._ by [Josh Sanburn](https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Jan 19, 2017 8:27 PM UTC In one of the most shocking U.S. elections in modern political history, Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton. by [Josh Sanburn](https://time.com/author/josh-sanburn/) ## Josh Sanburn Jan 19, 2017 8:27 PM UTC Thousands of police officers who’ve arrived from around the country are getting their assignments from D.C. police. Dump trucks and buses are being readied as makeshift barriers. Roads around the Capitol are slowly being closed off. Law enforcement officials in the nation’s capital are finishing final preparations for an estimated 1 million people expected in Washington, D.C. this weekend for the [presidential inauguration](http://time.com/4639340/donald-trump-inauguration-events-schedule/?xid=homepage) of [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) and a series of planned anti-Trump [marches](http://motto.time.com/4639192/womens-march-washington-speakers/) and protests around the nation’s capital. Officials are expecting 700,000 to 900,000 people at Trump’s inauguration on Friday, along with 99 groups on Friday and Saturday that plan to either protest or gather in support of the incoming president, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said earlier this week. The sheer number of gatherings presents a unique challenge for law enforcement officials tasked with keeping this year’s inaugural events safe, especially in light of terrorist attacks in Europe over the past year involving trucks used as weapons. “We’ve got to be vigilant, we’ve got to plan, we’ve got to prepare,” [Johnson said](http://www.npr.org/2017/01/15/509721596/security-will-be-massive-at-trumps-inauguration). [Read more: Here is a Complete Schedule of All the Donald Trump Inauguration Events](http://time.com/4639340/donald-trump-inauguration-events-schedule/?xid=homepage) Roughly 28,000 law enforcement officers will be on hand for the inauguration and the Women’s March on Washington planned for Saturday. The event’s organizers have said publicly they expect 200,000 marchers, but a Washington, D.C., homeland security official [told the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/inauguration-day-security-trump-protests-demonstrations-washington.html) that authorities are planning for 400,000 to 500,000. For some departments, planning has been underway for months. Peter Newsham, the interim chief of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, says his agency began preparing more than a year ago and started coordinating several months ago with federal departments that have their own jurisdictions throughout the city on Inauguration Day. Security officials have begun preparing large trucks and buses to form a security barrier around the inaugural events. They’re a possible preventive measure against an attack by someone driving a vehicle, similar to one last year in Berlin. Nearby hospitals, meanwhile, have been notified in the event of possible injuries related to the inauguration, according to the [_Times._](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/inauguration-day-security-trump-protests-demonstrations-washington.html) On Thursday, 3,000 police officers from around the country met in D.C. to discuss logistics for keeping this year’s route secure. Those officers—who will be wearing their own local uniforms—will be under the command of D.C. police, while personnel from a number of other agencies—including the National Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration—will make up the rest of the 28,000 officials on hand. The overall security plan for President Obama and President-elect Trump is controlled by the U.S. Secret Service, while the Capitol’s grounds where the inauguration and swearing-in ceremonies are held are policed by U.S. Capitol Police. The sidewalks and parks surrounding the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue will be patrolled by U.S. Park Police, while the street itself will be under the jurisdiction of the D.C. police. Security costs are estimated to reach $100 million. [Read more: Here Are the Democrats Boycotting Donald Trump’s Inauguration](http://time.com/4635411/democrats-boycotting-donald-trumps-inauguration/?xid=homepage) Officials expect about half as many people this year compared to President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, which drew an estimated 1.8 million. The main challenge this year will be securing the nation’s capital for two straight days as hundreds of thousands of protesters descend on Washington to protest the new president in what could be the largest inaugural protests since the 1970s and the Vietnam War era. “The challenge about having a large-scale demonstration back-to-back with the inauguration is that officers will have longer working days,” Newsham says. “But police officers are used to that kind of thing.” At this week’s news conference, Homeland Security Secretary Johnson said that officials “know of no specific credible threat directed toward the inauguration” but added that officials have “got to be vigilant,” citing potential “individual acts of violent extremism.” Newsham said he also knows of no credible threats to the events, adding that organizers of Saturday’s women’s march “have affirmatively said they want it to be a large peaceful event. We’re hopeful that will be the case.” ## Transcript I am officially running Aah, yeah [ APPLAUSE ]. for President of the United States [ APPLAUSE ] and we are going to make our country great again. The American Dream is dead, but if I get elected President I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again. I was called by a major major reporter whose name I won't use. And he said to me what you've done has never been done Male 1: In the history of United States politics. And more and more people are resonating to what I'm saying. That's why I'm leading in every poll. We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with winning. I think I have to win. I'm about winning. Male 2: It's been amazing to follow and exciting because you say some shocking Things [ LAUGH ] You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slabs, and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account. Only Rosie O'Donnell Look at those hands, are they small hands? And he referred to my hands, if they're small something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem there, I guarantee it. I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters okay? You gotta see this guy, I don't know what I said. I don't remember. [ APPLAUSE ] Here's a guy throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming and everything else when we're talking. I mean what can happen, and we're not allowed, you know the guards are very gently with him, he's walking out like big high fives. Smiling, laughing, like to punch him in the face. [ APPLAUSE ] USA! USA! USA! When Mexico sends their people, they're not bringing their best. They're sending drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapist. I will build a great great wall On our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. The former president of Mexico Vicente Fox, he said today, and I'm quoting him. He said, I'm not going to pay for that quote, F'ing wall. How are you going to make them pay for the wall? I will and the wall just got ten feet taller, believe me. Zero tolerance for criminal aliens, zero, zero. Now a different threat challenges the whole world. Radical Islamic Terrorism. Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shut down. Of Muslims entering the United States. Donald Trump, let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? You have sacrificed nothing, and no one [ APPLAUSE ] I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs. Built great structures. I've had tremendous success. Those are sacrifices? Sure I think they're sacrifices. [ MUSIC ] As the proud daughter of your nominee I am here to tell you this is the moment and Donald Trump is the person to make America great again. [ LAUGH ] I humbly and gratefully accept. Your nomination for the presidency of the United States. And we will make America great again. God Bless you and good night. I love you. [ Music ] Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican nominee for President, Donald J. Trump. And the Democratic nominee for President Hilary Clinton . >> You're telling the enemy everything you wanted to do . >> No we're not . >> See. you're telling the enemy everything you wanted to do . >> There are different . >> Secretary, is it President Obama's fault? Wrong >> That is absolutely Wrong . >> Prove over and over again. Wrong. I also have a much better temperament than she has, you know? If Hillary knew how she would have done it already, period, end of story. I won the debate, I stayed calm just like I promised, and it is over. Goodnight, [ INAUDIBLE ]. [ LAUGH ] I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. [ LAUGH ] Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the ****. I've said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade old video Are one of them. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we're facing today. You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women, do you understand that? No I didn't say that at all. I don't think you understood what was said. This was lock Locker room talk . >> Just breaking a damning report from the New York Times that claims Donald Trump inappropriately touched two women, the first nearly [ INAUDIBLE ] That more women now accuse Donald Trump of improper physical contact . >> The People Magazine writer who said that Donald Trump kissed her and groped her in 2005 while she was interviewing him and his then pregnant wife Melania . >> These vicious claims About me, of inappropriate conduct with women. Are totally, and absolutely false. I didn't know any of these women, I didn't see these women. And I didn't even apologize to my wife, who's sitting right here, cuz I didn't do anything. Thank you. Do you make the same commitment that you will absolutely, Sir, that you will absolutely accept the result of this election? I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now, I'll look at it at the time. And I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election. If I win. 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