Bismarck prepared, but business as usual at North Dakota state capitol ahead of inauguration day

While Washington, D.C., is locked down with thousands of National Guardsmen ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration Wednesday, it’s business as usual at the closest state capitol to Saskatchewan.

In Bismarck, N.D., the capitol building remains open to the public, but it’s quiet due to COVID.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol is in charge of security at the building and would not comment on security measures.

Bismarck Police Chief Dave Draovitch said the legislature is meeting and it’s still open to the public.

“There’s really nothing else that we can find that’s being planned or anything about going to the capitol tomorrow,” said Draovitch.

Following the siege on the U.S. Capitol, the FBI warned all 50 states of potentially dangerous protests at state capitols in the days leading up to Biden’s inauguration.

“That’s something that can give somebody an idea to go do something,” said Draovitch. “For security sake, they shouldn’t have put it out the way they did. I didn’t like that.”

Draovitch said there is no intelligence suggesting that there’s any kind of organized demonstration for the Bismarck area tomorrow. However, he added the Bismarck Police Department is prepared in case something does happen.