CLEVELAND, OHIO – The Republican National Convention is in full swing — and security is one of the top concerns for many convention attendees. We’ve had a series of shootings of law enforcement officers and terrorist attacks leading up to the convention, so the city of Cleveland is going to spend $50 million it received from the government on everything from assault rifles, body cameras — one for every Cleveland police officer — additional police officers, federal officers, the National Guard, bomb-defusing robots, armored vehicles and riot gear (via CNN Money):
Expect agents from ATF, FBI, FEMA and others. There will be 3,000 agents from the Secret Service, TSA, Customs and Border Protection and other agencies — plus another 1,000 “U.S. government personnel.”
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Cleveland police have 550 officers — a third of the department — protecting the RNC. The rest come from outside police departments.
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The Defense Department told CNNMoney that specialized Ohio National Guard units will be standing by in the background, ready to intervene if there are any suspicions of radioactive or biological weapons in the area.
There is also a drone-free zone around Quicken Loans Arena — signs are posted near security checkpoints. The news organization added that Philadelphia will spend a similar amount — $43 million — on security during the upcoming convention next week. Of course, those aren’t particularly high security costs. In 2004, the government gave Democrats and Republicans a total of $100 million spend on beefing up security for their conventions that election year. At the same time, we never had horrific shootings where law enforcement was deliberately targeted.
