Despite the recent turmoil involving police nationwide, several local law enforcement agencies still are helping with security during the Republican National Convention July 18 through 21 in Cleveland.
The Akron Police Department is sending 35 of its estimated 450 officers and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office is lending out 30 of its 330 deputies, including three supervisors.
The majority of local officers assisting at RNC are assigned to the “mobile field force” and will be stationed on the streets for crowd control.
Both departments opted to send officers even after taking into consideration the incident Thursday night in Dallas, where five police officers were killed and seven others wounded when sniper fire turned a peaceful protest over two recent police killings involving black male victims.
Sheriff’s Inspector Bill Holland said all of the officers working the RNC volunteered.
“There were more volunteers than we could take,” he said. “We will be working with the Cleveland police and Secret Service. All of the departments have their own policy and procedures. Our group will stay together and work together, although not all of the deputies will be there at the same time. We have been training for several weeks and we will practice until the day of the event.”
Akron police chief James Nice said Cleveland is paying for equipment and staffing, so there is no cost to the city of Akron.
Summit County also will be reimbursed for the salaries of the deputies who participate in RNC security.
Getting gear
In a recent Akron City Council meeting, Nice told council members that the event will not interfere with police staffing levels at home because the officers going to Cleveland will be working overtime or not during their regular Akron shifts.
Some of the Akron police officers will be working the bicycle unit.
Several Summit County sheriff’s deputies who will participate are members of the department’s bomb squad, SWAT team and mounted patrol.
Other designated police assignments include K-9 officers, motorcycle units and logistics.
Holland said the Cleveland Police Department issued personnel protective equipment to Summit County on Wednesday and he distributed it to the officers on Thursday. The “turtle gear” included a hard shell with armed pads, elbow pads, shin pads, chest pads and a helmet.
“Now we are training wearing the equipment as well as practicing putting on the equipment,” he said. “It is much easier and faster with two people helping.”
Bath Township police will also send a sergeant and five officers from its mobile unit, but will keep the majority of officers in town. The Bath police department has 22 sworn police officers.
“If we have problems down here the agreement with Cleveland allows us to recall our officers,” Bath police chief Michael McNeely said.
Each of the five hotels on Springside Drive in Bath are booked with a Republican delegation.
Unlike Summit County, Bath has its own protective gear, purchased less than a year ago.
“We are already equipped with everything we need,” McNeely said. “We started planning two years ago when the location of the RNC was announced, because we anticipated Cleveland would need more officers. So we were ahead of the demand.”
Copley and Fairlawn police will stay in the area. Both departments have about 30 officers on the force.
“We’re not sure how the convention will affect us down here, so for our best interest we are keeping our officers here,” Copley Police Chief Michael Mier said. “We have 10 hotels and they are all booked and almost all of them reserved are connected with the RNC.”
Fairlawn also has hotels that are booked during the convention, but Police Chief Kenneth Walsh said he is concerned with just the large number of people expected to be in the area.
“We expect a lot of people to be here. We don’t have a large department and we want to keep our resources close to home,” said Chief Walsh. “We have three hotels in Fairlawn. We also expect the whole retail and business district to be busy. The RNC is anticipating 50,000 people coming into the general area and I’m sure they’ll be hitting the mall.”
Questions of preparedness
Some other communities across Ohio and nationwide that originally planned to help with RNC security have already backed out, including the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, which the Columbus Dispatch reported pulled out of RNC security because of insurance issues.
Cincinnati Police, which had considered sending 50 officers, rescinded its help a couple months ago. The Greensboro (N.C.) Police Department also backed out of sending 50 officers, hinting at concerns about a lack of preparation by Cleveland.
The U.S. Secret Service and the city of Cleveland have not answered Beacon Journal questions about whether security levels are sufficient, or below original estimates. Cleveland police and city officials have publicly said 500 local law enforcement and 2,700 visiting officers from across the state will handle security for 50,000 delegates, their families and media.
Doug Livingston contributed to this report. Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.