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In light of the recent discovery of cocaine inside the West Wing of the White House, I am wondering if a person who either lives in, or works in, or makes a visit to the White House, is caught using an illegal drug within the White House by a member of the Secret Service, whether that Secret Service member can immediately arrest that person and then turn that person over the Washington D.C. police department for prosecution.

Or, is arresting someone in the White House for drug possession/drug use not one of the job duties of the Secret Service?

Can the Secret Service arrest someone who uses an illegal drug inside of the White House?

phoog
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3 Answers3

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The Secret Service is primarily concerned with protecting the people and information they oversee, not enforcing laws.

They have the power to arrest someone for any unlawful conduct, but unless a drug user is presenting as a threat to a protectee, they are unlikely to be arrested by the Secret Service.

More likely the Service would simply escort the person off the premises and refer the matter to the DC Metro Police to handle.

Edit: Such a case would not be turned over to the US Capitol Police (as originally written)
It would most likely be referred to the DC Metropolitan Police Department.
Corrected my answer above.

abelenky
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See 18 U.S.C. § 3056(c)(1)(C) — Powers, authorities, and duties of United States Secret Service:

(1) Under the direction of the Secretary of Homeland Security, officers and agents of the Secret Service are authorized to —
…

(C) make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony;

Vladimir Reshetnikov
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The Secret Service Uniformed Division has powers “similar to those of the members of the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia” and routinely makes arrests for both violations of nationwide federal law and violations of the DC Code. Leaving aside that possession of drugs can generally be charged under the federal Controlled Substances Act, the Uniformed Division has full authority to arrest for it under DC Code drug provisions. For instance, here’s a case from 2000 where Uniformed Division officers arrested someone in northwest DC for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. There was no question of their authority to make the arrest. The Secret Service is actually one of a handful of uniformed federal police forces that regularly exercises DC Code authority on public streets (along with the Park Police), let alone inside the White House complex.

cpast
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