Convention cops: Milwaukee, Cedar Rapids and Illinois to send officers
Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 7:02 pm
- 4 Comments
Minnesota cops will be getting reinforcements from neighboring states for the Republican National Convention. According to St. Paul Police Department spokesman Tom Walsh, the cities of Milwaukee and Cedar Rapids will be sending officers, as will the state of Illinois. Walsh says that the most recent count had the number of officers available for RNC security operations at roughly 3,300. “That number moves from hour to hour, day to day,” he says.
St. Paul is seeking to have at least 3,500 officers on duty, but has struggled to get sufficient commitments from law-enforcement agencies around the state. Some departments are worried about liability issues, while others are concerned about keeping adequate staffing levels back home.
The St. Cloud Police Department, for instance, is sending just eight officers for the four-day gathering. “We’re not able to send down the number that we had hoped to because of issues with our own staffing levels,” says St. Cloud Police Chief Dennis Ballantine. “We just can’t free up more officers.”
There are only 10,300 licensed peace officers in Minnesota. In other words, to staff the RNC without outside assistance would require more than a third of all cops in the state. At a press conference last week St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington (pictured) assured reporters that there will be sufficient cops available for security purposes. “We are well on our way to meeting our goal of having far more than adequate staffing for the RNC,” he said.
See MnIndy’s previous coverage of this story:
A whiff of desperation? St. Paul now seeking firefighters to assist with RNC security operations (August 4)
Convention cops: Five weeks out, St. Paul still coming up short on police for RNC duty (July 28)
Convention cops: How many licensed police officers are employed by the state of Minnesota? (July 25)
Convention cops: More discrepancies emerge in St. Paul’s RNC security force tally (July 22)
Convention cops: Head of gang strike force denies RNC participation (July 21)
Convention cops: SPPD official asks for more police volunteers, offers to forgo JPAs (July 18)
Convention cops: SPPD releases list of departments sending officers to RNC (July 18)
Convention cops: St. Paul struggling to recruit enough officers for RNC security (July 17)
4 Comments
Comment posted August 16, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
Bringing cops from Cedar Rapids here seems like Reaganomics in law enforcement. [For those of you under 40: from the needy to the greedy]
Comment posted August 16, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
What’s wrong with those cops in Duluth? They basically just roll the criminals down the hillside, directly behind the Duluth Arena where they tie old iron ore ingots to their ankles and pitch em’ into the harbor. How many cops do they need for that duty?
And the cops in Grand rapids? What about them? The biggest event they have to cover is the Judy Garland Days which brings in a couple hundred geezers with walkers. Let them come down.
And what about those cops in Bemidji? Those guys only have to worry about the few tourists who can still afford the gas to drive up to that gosh-forsaken wide spot in the road.
Come on Northern Minnesota cops – get on down to The Cities, eh, and have a little fun beatin’ on protesters. Its more fun that arresting drunken smelters.
Comment posted August 16, 2008 @ 8:41 am
What's wrong with those cops in Duluth? They basically just roll the criminals down the hillside, directly behind the Duluth Arena where they tie old iron ore ingots to their ankles and pitch em' into the harbor. How many cops do they need for that duty?
And the cops in Grand rapids? What about them? The biggest event they have to cover is the Judy Garland Days which brings in a couple hundred geezers with walkers. Let them come down.
And what about those cops in Bemidji? Those guys only have to worry about the few tourists who can still afford the gas to drive up to that gosh-forsaken wide spot in the road.
Come on Northern Minnesota cops – get on down to The Cities, eh, and have a little fun beatin' on protesters. Its more fun that arresting drunken smelters.
Comment posted August 16, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Bringing cops from Cedar Rapids here seems like Reaganomics in law enforcement. [For those of you under 40: from the needy to the greedy]
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