CHICAGO (WLS) — DNC or not, the Chicago Police Department is responsible for protecting residents, protesters, property, businesses and neighborhoods.
There will be some backup from police departments outside Chicago, including Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention was being held. But police officials told the I-Team that there are not many out-of-town officers and that CPD is working 12-hour shifts covering the Democratic National Convention and regular operations in the community.
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The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for securing the venues, delegates, party officials and candidates, employing hundreds of federal agents from special teams from other agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ bomb-sniffing dog unit and explosives technicians on standby.
“We are bringing ten dogs to the DNC and their job at this event is to look for unattended luggage that someone may have left behind or a suspicious package,” said Kurt Bentley, Special Agent K-9 Handler for ATF-Chicago.
The DNC in Chicago is a national special security event. This designation alone means that the government considers it a potential target for terrorism or other criminal activity.
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“Anyone entering the interior of the event will be searched by Department of Defense dogs,” said ATF-Chicago Special Agent K-9 Handler Dan Durkin.
On Sunday evening, the approach became clear, with the entire government being involved in this week’s meeting.
“We have hand tools and all the other tools we need to take things apart or destroy something like that. We can investigate a crime scene. We can collect evidence,” said Anthony Zito, Special Agent Explosives at ATF-Chicago.
At the United Center, buses and other vehicles are searched by federal dog teams.
“The ability to set things off is constantly changing. So that’s becoming kind of an increasing threat. And we try to stay on top of that kind of technology,” said Stewart Graham, special agent for explosives at ATF Chicago.
When asked if Hollywood was good at portraying the way agents go about discovering an explosive device, John Richardson, Special Agent Bomb Technician at ATF-Chicago, said, “If you have to cut a wire, that’s a really bad day.”
Security measures at the United Center are consistent with those at McCormick Place, where the DNC meetings are held.
In addition, US Coast Guard teams patrol the lake.
The Secret Service monitors all of this. The service has been under surveillance since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last month.
“The Secret Service is a play-it-safe mission, so we always adhere to the highest security precautions. But to say, ‘We’re changing something for the DNC,’ is not right. This is a whole-of-government approach, and they’ve been planning security since April 2023,” said Secret Service chief Derek Mayer.
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On Sunday evening, CPD Supervisor Larry Snelling gave a thumbs up to his large bike patrol assigned to the DNC’s first major protest.
This deployment offered a glimpse into the police’s likely strategy for maintaining order at the authorized protests: flooding the protest route with shoulder-to-shoulder patrol officers and bicycle units, protecting property on both sides of downtown streets, and deploying snow plows in support columns from city streets and San Francisco to keep traffic and crowds under control.
There was no riot gear to be seen this Sunday, although, as at all mass gatherings, police forces are not always visible.
“We want people to exercise their First Amendment rights. We will protect them in doing so, but we cannot guarantee anyone that we will not arrest them if they start to become violent or commit crimes,” Snelling said.
In addition to regular police forces, 250 military police from the Illinois National Guard are on standby, according to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
“They’re really on standby, they’re on the edge. Nobody expects that we’ll have to use them for anything very serious. We also want to make sure that we have additional police personnel in uniform who are trained as police officers. We’re just trying to cover all eventualities and make sure we do everything right,” Pritzker said.
The last time the National Guard was activated was during the riots following the murder of George Floyd. They did what they would do if activated during the DNC: They managed street closures and traffic flows to relieve pressure on the Chicago police.
Some businesses in downtown Chicago displayed plywood facades on Sunday evening, apparently as their own security against vandals and potential looters.
But most retail and business establishments on Michigan Avenue did not barricade their doors on Sunday night, but received extraordinary protection from Chicago police. Before, during and after the first DNC protest, police officers stood on both sides of Michigan Avenue.
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