Source: Bloomberg.com
Two U.S. cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers, fences and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops and Secret Service agents.
In Denver, where Democrats assemble next week, police are spending $18 million on equipment alone and will be bolstered by National Guard troops and hundreds of officers from surrounding suburbs. In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the Sept. 1-4 Republican nominating convention, police are calling on 80 law- enforcement agencies to provide 3,000 officers to supplement the city’s 500-person force.
Congress earmarked $100 million for security at the two meetings, where federal and local authorities are trying to guard against any dangers to candidates or convention-goers.
“We are constantly looking at what threats could harm us,” said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, which is overseeing security operations.
Safeguarding the quadrennial gatherings is difficult, in part because so many public officials are among the thousands of people in attendance, said Andrew O’Connell, a former Secret Service agent who runs the Washington office of New York-based Fortress Global Investigations & Security. “It will be a challenge,” he said.
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