Secret Service broke into a salon in Massachusetts and covered up security cameras so the team could use the bathroom. Alicia Powers is the owner of the Four One Three salon in Piittsfield. She closed her business for the day July 27 at the request of the service because her location was behind where Harris would speak. Her building had been inspected earlier. She didn’t expect them to return once she closed.
Business owner initially accommodated
Powers spoke to a news outlet, “They had a bunch of people in and out of here doing a couple of bomb sweeps again — totally understand what they have to do, due to the nature of the situation. And at that point, my team felt like it was a little bit chaotic, and we just made the decision to close for Saturday.”
Security camera footage showed when it was covered. Another security camera showed a number of people entering the salon, emergency medical and law enforcement, with one even appearing to remove something from Powers’ desk.
This went on for two hours without authorization from the business owner. The security alarm continued in the background.
When Powers returned
She found the lock to her business had been picked and the security camera was still covered. So they used the bathroom for two hours.
“There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half — just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission. And then when they were done using the bathroom for two hours, they left, and left my building completely unlocked, and did not take the tape off the camera.”
She understandably felt violated. She would have likely been willing to open the place for the afternoon with coffee and donuts but she was never asked.
Her business was raided
“Whoever was visiting, whether it was a celebrity or not, I probably would’ve opened the door and made them coffee and brought in donuts to make it a great afternoon for them. But they didn’t even have the audacity to ask for permission. They just helped themselves.”
Powers’ landlord, Brian Smith, wasn’t happy either. They “had no permission to go in there whatsoever.”
So ruffled feathers need to be smoothed. Various forms of apologies are supposedly in order. A spokesman said,
“The U.S. Secret Service works closely with our partners in the business community to carry out our protective and investigative missions. The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner. We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission.”
