LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Between July and December 2023, Arkansas State Police (ASP) spent around $1.4 million on executive protections for Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family, according to quarterly reports on expenditures from the Arkansas Department of Public Safety.
Starting January 2023, ASP Director Colonel Mike Hagar said this is the first time executive protection expenses have been thoroughly reported.
Col. Hagar provided the following statement on the expenses:
"Operational decisions, like the number of security, are made by state police and not by this governor, nor previous governors.
At the insistence of the Governor’s office and at the request of the Legislature, we have demonstrated an unprecedented level of transparency by reporting dollar-for-dollar expenses for the governor’s detail. Before January, we were not intentional about recording, documenting, and calculating many of these expenses.
These numbers have never been compiled before, and they have never been reported before, and there are too many varying factors to truly compare year to year.
Much of ASP's costs on executive protections stem from the salaries and overtime of the officers, with a total of around $1.3 million over the six months. Cindy Murphy, communications director for the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, could not disclose how many officers are assigned to executive protections due to security reasons.
Lodging for the officers was the second-highest expense, with a total of $36,844, and around $18,700 was spent on airfare.
Other expenses accounted for are meals, telecommunications, ground transportation, gas, laundry uniform service, office supplies, firearms and other military supplies, officer uniforms, kitchen and janitorial supplies, laptops, software, and more.
Murphy said these expenses are paid for through General Revenue Funds.
According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, ASP has been allocated around $88 million of General Revenue Funds for fiscal year 2024.
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