Greensboro Police Pull Out of RNC, Cleveland Cries Foul
The Greensboro Police Department in North Carolina has rescinded its offer to send 50 police officers to Cleveland in July to help secure the Republican National Convention, citing a lack of workers' compensation insurance provided by the city for visiting officers, as well as staffing challenges and a failure of logistics and planning for the large-scale event.
Lt. Brian James, Greensboro deputy chief of police, told ABC News that police administrators in other jurisdictions have also expressed a lack of confidence in Cleveland and its preparedness for the upcoming event. He said some departments are declining to send officers while others are still “on the fence.”
“Police work is dangerous by nature. But of course in any situation, we try to plan and prepare as best we can,” James said. “Of course, we will be officers working out of jurisdiction, so we are totally reliant on the Cleveland Police Department for direction. We didn’t have enough information at this time to send our officers there, so we decided we are not going to send them.”
Cleveland's mayor's office released a statement of its own this afternoon, saying they've asked hundreds of agencies to help out, and that none have expressed any concerns.
“Despite rumors, the Division of Police will be prepared and is on track with its planning goals. Plans concerning outside agency support are still being drafted. No outside agencies have expressed preparedness concerns directly to the Division of Police or to the City of Cleveland," the statement reads. It goes on to say that members of the police have received extensive training and instruction on the use of force, crowd management, free speech, freedom of assembly, due process, and reasonable search and seizure. Some officers will also be assigned body cameras.
But Greensboro police might not be the only ones bowing out. Dan Ball, assistant director of media relation's in Cleveland's mayor's office, had confirmed that the Cincinnati Police Department had pulled its officers from the event because of a scheduling conflict. Ball later told ABC News that the police department had not in fact been asked to attend. The Cincinnati Police Department has not returned ABC News' request for comment.
Ball said police departments pull out for various reasons and disputes claims that Cleveland is ill-prepared to host the RNC.
more:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/greensboro-police-pull-rnc-cleveland-cries-foul/story?id=39427289
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