Police Getting Ready for RNC Convention in Tampa
By TAMARA LUSH Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. July 22, 2012 (AP)

Tampa has hosted four Super Bowls, but the protesters expected to cram into the city for the Republican National Convention will be a different sort of crowd, and the police are trying to be ready.

In 2008, thousands of protesters arrived in St. Paul, Minn., for the RNC. Some smashed cars, punctured tires and threw bottles in a confrontation with pepper-spray wielding police. Hundreds were arrested over a few days, including dozens of journalists.

"Minneapolis surprised everyone," said Rod Reder, a retired Hillsborough County sheriff's captain who worked three Super Bowls in Tampa and the Free Trade Area of the Americas protests in Miami in 2003.

Congress has given Tampa — and Charlotte, the location of the Democratic National Convention — $50 million each in taxpayer money to try to ensure everyone is safe for the political gatherings that crown each party's presidential candidate every four years.

Tampa police have spent about $13.6 million so far on big-ticket security items, including 200 bicycles, 13 electric all-terrain vehicles and one armored truck for the Aug. 27-31 Republican gathering.

However, authorities are not revealing much more about the purchases and other expenditures.

The Associated Press sent Tampa Police a public records request asking for copies of the purchase orders and bids of everything the department is buying for the convention. The Secret Service contends that the information is exempt from public scrutiny due to homeland security concerns and officials say the request is under review.

For more than a year, a phalanx of federal, state and local agencies have met to discuss convention security plans. Protest zones and parade routes have been created for those — perhaps in the tens of thousands — wishing to express their opinions.

"We've extensively studied St. Paul," said Tampa City Attorney Jim Shimberg. "We've had meetings with folks in St. Paul, to find out what went well and what went wrong."

Ordinances were enacted banning water guns, hatchets and chains — but not firearms because that would violate a state law barring local gun regulations. And the city of Tampa will bring in more than 3,000 officers from 59 law enforcement agencies from around the state, along with Florida National Guard troops, to patrol the streets.

Reder's security company is offering bodyguard services to VIPs and politicians. He said he's not concerned about protesters, many of whom are from labor union groups or organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. His worry is anarchists who believe government should be abolished.

"This is not a Super Bowl crowd," he said. "Big difference. Tampa's never seen anything like this."

Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said that also is her concern. Anarchists caused property damage and mayhem in St. Paul, she said.

"We believe the vast majority of individuals that come for the RNC will do so peacefully," she said "We're not naive enough to think there won't be a small contingent bent on disruption, though."

The official line from RNC organizers and local police: everything will be OK.

"We feel very confident with the local officers as well as the Secret Service that we will have a successful convention," said RNC spokesman James Davis.

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