Crime & Safety

Headliner: McCarthy Weighs in on Secret Service Prostitute Scandal

The Orland Park police chief, and a former Secret Service agent, is disappointed by the actions of support agents in Columbia, but praises the agency for its quick response.

 

Tim McCarthy, and a former Secret Service agent, described the behavior of Secret Service support agents in Cartagena, Colombia as “boorish,” “pathetic” and “incredibly stupid.” McCarthy, known for taking a bullet to save President Ronald Reagan, also praised efforts by the agency’s leadership to take responsibility for a handful of agents accused of soliciting prostitutes after a night of drinking.

“What I was hearing was incredibly stupid,” McCarthy told Patch in an interview Wednesday. “What was more important was not what was incredibly stupid or morally offensive, but was security compromised or were agents on duty impaired. Since that time, we have found out that security was not compromised and no one was on duty that was impaired.

Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“In any large agency, unfortunately, people do stupid things,” he said. “This was stupid, and now it is how you handle that. That is the most important part. To give credit where credit is due, you have seen few agencies anywhere that handled it as quickly and effectively as the Secret Service.”

.

Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Who else makes news in Orland? Check out our Names in the News section.

Get important local news to your email every day. Sign up for our Newsletter here.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.