{"id":126760,"date":"2026-03-01T13:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/126760\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T13:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:53:07","slug":"no-fort-indiantown-gap-protocol-exists-for-shapiros-safety-police-commisioner-says-after-gop-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/126760\/","title":{"rendered":"No Fort Indiantown Gap protocol exists for Shapiro\u2019s safety, police commisioner says after GOP claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WHTM) \u2014 Pennsylvania\u2019s acting police commissioner said the state never considered moving Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) to Fort Indiantown Gap, a National Guard base in Lebanon County, after an arson attack at his official residence<\/a> in Harrisburg last year.<\/p>\n

The base used to house the state\u2019s lieutenant governor, which prompted some Republican lawmakers to suggest Shapiro should have moved there rather than to his private residence in Montgomery County. Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Berks\/Montgomery) went as far as to accuse the governor of putting his family at risk and breaking protocol.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have protocols in place for securing the governor anywhere we take him or his family,\u201d said Lt. Col. George Bivens, who oversees Pennsylvania State Police, on This Week in Pennsylvania. \u201cIf something happens, we know where we\u2019re going to take him next, but the Gap is not one of those options that is typically used.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs now owns the State House, which was the lieutenant governor\u2019s residence until 2019. Bivens said there isn\u2019t a facility on the base that state police could have moved the governor to in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

Republicans have taken issue with security upgrades at Shapiro\u2019s private residence, which have cost the state as much as $1 million. Bivens said all those expenditures were directed by state police.<\/p>\n

Shapiro describes a changed life in defense of security upgrades at home <\/a><\/p>\n

Lawmakers pressed Bivens on the legal justification for the costs during a tense budget hearing<\/a>. He\u2019s no lawyer, but he stands by the unprecedented move, even though many consider it a legal gray area. This week, state police provided the Pennsylvania Treasury, which is headed by Stacy Garrity, the likely Republican nominee for governor, with a written explanation after it requested one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will get sorted out,\u201d Bivens said.<\/p>\n

The security upgrades at Shapiro\u2019s home haven\u2019t only upset lawmakers, but also his neighbors, who claimed in a lawsuit that the governor unlawfully took possession of their property<\/a>, which Shapiro denies. Bivens addressed an accusation in the lawsuit that Shapiro used state troopers to patrol the disputed land.<\/p>\n

Watch This Week in Pennsylvania in the video player above to hear his response.<\/p>\n

Every week, This Week in Pennsylvania gives a comprehensive look at the week\u2019s biggest news events in Pennsylvania, provided by the abc27 News team, along with the latest updates on local stories.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WHTM) \u2014 Pennsylvania\u2019s acting police commissioner said the state never considered moving Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) to Fort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59118,34046,33,48794,28,30,29,34045,59119,487],"class_list":["post-126760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-fort-indiantown-gap","tag-george-bivens","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-lieutenant-governor","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-police-commissioner","tag-republican-lawmakers","tag-state-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}