New Info Leaks Out On Pelosi Security

Yesterday I asked why the Pelosi San Francisco home didn't have even the sort of doorway alarms that come with ordinary suburban home security systems. I got a partial answer in this morning's news. According to the Washington Post:

The U.S. Capitol Police had cameras outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but they were not monitored, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Capitol Police saw the flash of police lights on the camera, rewound the video and saw the break-in, according to the sources.

It is unclear whether or not the cameras should have been monitored at the time.

Just the News has a slightly different version:

A live security video feed at the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi caught the suspect in the recent assault on her husband Paul Pelosi, but no one from the U.S. Capitol Police was watching, sources told Just the News.

U.S. Capitol Police did not return numerous requests for comment on Tuesday.

A source revealed to Just the News that the officer who was in charge of monitoring the feed didn't notice the break-in occurred until the flashing strobe lights from responding San Francisco police squads were visible on the feed.

. . . Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said that the department is currently conducting a formal review of the incident but declined to provide further detail in a statement released on Tuesday.

This account suggests there was in fact an officer who was in charge of monitoring the feed. but for whatever reason, it wasn't monitored. At least they haven't claimed the camera was broken, at least not yet. The FBI was on that case like white on rice:

Two cameras that malfunctioned outside the jail cell where financier Jeffrey Epstein died as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges have been sent to an FBI crime lab for examination, a law enforcement source told Reuters.

I bet they rounded up the usual suspects, too.

But this doesn't answer the basic question of why your average middle-class suburbanite has the budget to install door alarms that not only make a loud noise, but notify the security company and police -- yet the Pelosi residence didn't have even this level of security.

UPDATE: This story says,

Further, the Washington Post reported that Pelosi’s home security system is supposed to notify both San Francisco police and Capitol Police when tripped. However, Capitol Police “never received an alert from the home security company,” WaPo reported, adding that “it was unclear if the system was armed at the time of the break-in.

There will be more to learn here, especially if for whatever reason, Pelosi didn't have the presence of mind to ensure his own safety.

In fact, at a lower price point, many ordinary people install bars or metal screens on rear windows and doors, exactly where DePape broke in with a hammer. Had there been metal screens on those back doors, as far as I can tell, he wouldn't have been able to break the glass and get in. The Pelosis might not have liked the look of metal screens on those expensive doors, but of course, they had the option of the more expensive but still affordable electronic door alarms. And this was a choice many residents of that exclusive neighborhood likely made even if they weren't in the presidential line of succession.

Capitol Police Chief Manger looks in the photo above like a comfortable, well-fed bureaucrat on the verge of retirement. Hey, do you see the electronic security sensor on his office door past his left hand in the photo? I strongly suspect that with a likely Republican Speaker taking over in January, he'll get that opportunity.

I still think we dodged a bullet in this episode, and congress does in fact need to conduct a bipartisan investigation into why security for those in the line of succession past vice president appears currently to be so lax.