(Testimony of Perdue William Lawrence)
Mr. Griffin.
Were there other men who were going to have other responsibilities?
Captain Lawrence.
Yes, it was my understanding that the other responsibilities in regard to security were to be handled by the special service bureau and the members of the criminal investigation division.
Mr. Griffin.
And were they going to be stationed along the routes?
Captain Lawrence.
It was my understanding that they would be.
Mr. Griffin.
Were you ever informed as to how many men would be in each particular location?
Captain Lawrence.
I was not.
Mr. Griffin.
With specific reference to Dealey Plaza and the area of Elm and Houston and the School Book Depository, did you have any idea of how many Secret Service or detective bureau people or CID people would be in that area?
Captain Lawrence.
I did not.
Mr. Griffin.
Did you ever receive any advice or instructions from any member of the Secret Service about watching buildings or performing other functions other than the normal crowd controls which you have just mentioned?
Captain Lawrence.
I did not.
Mr. Griffin.
When you met with the Secret Service, what do you recall that the Secret Service did discuss?
Captain Lawrence.
I sat in on the discussion and I did not participate in any at all, and from what I heard there would be sufficient personnel inside the Trade Mart--they were discussing this, and these detectives assignments were not the ones that I was at that time primarily instructed in, so--I know that they had made some elaborate precautions, which no one discussed with me, but I don't remember all of the conversation that went on regarding that. I was particularly interested in traffic assignments and these were the ones I was listening for.
Mr. Griffin.
Was there ever any discussion that you heard about taking precautions designed to prevent some sort of assault on the President that would be more severe than simply placards, picketing, and people throwing rotten eggs and vegetables, and things like that?
Captain Lawrence.
Not to my knowledge, other than the fact that the Secret Service man in there--when it was mentioned about these motorcycle officers alongside the Presidents car, he said, "No, these officers should be back and if any people started a rush toward the car, if there was any movement at all where the President was endangered in any way, these officers would be in a position to gun their motors and get between them and the Presidential car," and he mentioned, of course, the security and safety of the President and those words were mentioned.
Mr. Griffin.
But was that concept of the security and the safety of the President spelled out in any certain details?
Captain Lawrence.
Not to my knowledge. Now, you see, I'm not familiar with .some of the things that were discussed with the other bureau commanders. Now, I didn't know until that time who was going to be in charge at the Trade Mart.
Mr. Griffin.
What time is that that you have reference to?
Captain Lawrence.
Sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. on November 21. I knew at that time that Captain Souter would be in charge, and when I was so advised, after this meeting I asked Souter if I could meet him down at the Trade Mart, and discuss how the motorcade would come into the Trade Mart, and they had discussed also about keeping an area open down there and it had also discussed with me--- I might add one thing that I had forgotten to say before that there would be two officers remain with the Presidential car while he was in the Trade Mart. This was told to me by Assistant Chief Batchelor--to the best of my knowledge.
After this conference, I asked Captain Souter if I could meet him down at the Trade Mart and he said he would be down there and then I called Sgt. S. Q. Bellah [spelling] B-e-l-l-a-h. I called him on the phone at home and asked him if he could meet me down there because he was going to be the leading solo motorcycle sergeant. He met me at the Trade Mart with Stavis Ellis, another
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