At least 15 Indiana State Police officers formed a perimeter around a tree-planting ceremony with Gov. Mitch Daniels Friday morning at the Indiana Statehouse.

The heightened security likely was because a small group of Occupy Indianapolis protesters remained around the corner of the Statehouse from the event.

"Gee, I don't know," Daniels said of the police presence.

The governor's events usually involve only the two officers who travel with him during the day.

Daniels joined Gov. Tomikazu Fukuda, the chairman of the Tochigi legislature and other Japanese dignitaries for a tree-planting ceremony in honor of Tochigi Prefecture, Indiana's sister state in Japan.

The trees -- a Japanese horse chestnut and three Cedars -- were already planted, though, and the dignitaries just added a few shovels of dirt.