Yeah, that excuse is as lame as the slanted roof excuse.
The slanted roof excuse was such bullshit, it could have passed for a sarcastic joke from an SNL skit.
The Director throwing that out to the interviewer was the stupidest thing they could have dreamed up. You and I both know she didn't even come up with that. Some other puke had that bright idea and assumed the public would be stupid enough to swallow that.
But...
The CS guys choosing to be inside is not unbelievable.
I have a pretty long history of working with LE on training and deployments. I have also been doing it long enough to have direct feedback, photos and AARs from live deployments including over-watch at crowded public venues.
Here is my 2 cents.
They
are trained to manage WX through physical fitness and position prep.
1: Unfortunately a lot of LE agencies do not have legit physical fitness standards once the officers leave the academy. Lots of LE agencies will move entry guys into a sniper slot once they are broken and half crippled from the entry monkey job because the admin mistakenly believe that LE snipers do not have to be in good physical condition. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Not all LE that are assigned a sniper position have the discipline of a full time military sniper that some are trying to compare them to. I do know that 85 to 90% of the ones I have worked with are actually very, very disciplined, dedicated and trustworthy meat eaters. The rest, not so much due to lax admin oversight.
**I have no clue about the physical condition of the local CS guys.**
2: Regardless of the physical condition of the officer per #1 above, some officers just flat do not have the discipline to maintain excellence. That means that (they are after all human) some will elect to seek more comfortable options if they think their effectiveness is "almost" as good as the prime position.
We are 110% against any procedural compromise in deployment. That is a non-negotiable constant once the venue has been surveyed.
I have no information to say what happened in PA, but I can certainly tell you that it is unfortunately possible that individual decisions could have been made to setup inside due to the perception it was more comfortable. Especially with everybody being on separate comm freq and no USSS oversight of all local LE assets, there would have been nobody to call their hand and make them get their asses up top.
I am still not saying that is what happened in this situation. I don't like it or condone it but it happens.
*Edited for spelling.