Convention securityTampa begins preparations for Republican National Convention
As Tampa Bay gears up for the Republican National Convention, city officials recently announced some of its security plans for the three day event scheduled to begin on 27 August; with roughly 2,000 law enforcement officers between Tampa and Hillsborough counties, a significant number of additional officers will have to be called in from surrounding counties
Tampa's convention preparations include acquisition of an armored vehicle // Source: tumblr.com
As Tampa Bay gears up for the Republican National Convention, city officials recently announced some of its security plans for the three day event scheduled to begin on 27 August.
Up until recently, details have been scarce, but officials say they plan to have 3,000 to 4,000 police officers on duty each day of the event. With roughly 2,000 law enforcement officers between Tampa and Hillsborough counties, a significant number of additional officers will have to be called in from surrounding counties.
It is estimated that as much as two-thirds of the $50 million that Congress appropriated the city for the convention will go towards paying, housing, and feeding the extra officers brought in to assist.
“We’re not going to buy a lot of equipment with this money,” said Marc Hamlin, Tampa’s assistant police chief.
In spite of Hamlin’s statements, last Thursday, Tampa security officials began making several equipment purchases including $1.18 million for an upgraded video system that links police helicopters to ground commanders and a $273,000 armored SWAT vehicle.
The new video system replaces the city’s analog technology and is designed to digitally stream encrypted, high-definition video to handheld receivers and monitors on the ground. Meanwhile the new armored vehicle augments the city’s existing fleet of two aging armored vehicles, which are both military surplus and twenty to thirty years old.
“Thank God we have two, because one seems to break down every week,” Hamlin said.
Mary Mulhern, the vice chair of the city council, questioned the need for an armored vehicle and was uneasy about its presence in the police department’s arsenal, calling it “kind of troubling.”
“I personally don’t feel like this is a necessity, and I just don’t like the idea of our city becoming militarized (in its) police force,” Mulhern said.
Hamlin sought to assuage concerns by clarifying that the vehicles are never used for patrols or crowd control, instead they are only used a few dozen times each year when the SWAT team is called in or when police must serve high-risk search warrants.
At a council meeting, Mulhern also questioned whether the city could use some of the federal grant money to provide services to the homeless as the city has passed a ban on panhandling in the weeks preceding the convention.
Hamlin did not believe such a request would be allowed, but he said he would take up the issue with the U.S. Justice Department, which must approve how the grant money is spent.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn was much more skeptical about the prospects of using funds for such non-security purposes.
“It’s not going to happen,” Buckhorn said. “We can’t be diverted from what the appropriate use of that money is, and that is to provide a safe environment for the convention. It’s not to be used for pet projects or things totally unrelated to security.”
For now additional details on the city’s security plan remain classified to the public for safety reasons.
Mulhern requested to see a budget to better understand how the federal grant money was being spent, but Hamlin said he could not publicly provide such details.
“It’s not for public consumption,” Hamlin said, “because there’s a lot of security details in the budget that could impact our security plans.”
