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Officers from Quincy Police, Adams County Sheriff and Jacksonville Police returned early Friday morning from being part of a security detail at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
About 3,500 law enforcement officers from 80 different departments participated in the security detail, for which the federal government provided St. Paul $50 million (Denver received the same amount for the Democratic Convention) and in turn St. Paul will reimburse each department for the officers who were sent. The state of Illinois sent 100 officers in total.
QPD Chief Rob Copley said the officers who wanted to go were part of a Homeland Security detail involved with the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS).
Sgt. Jeff Grott of QPD was one of the city's four officers to go along with Adam Gibson, Travis Wiemelt and Tom Miller. Grott said there wasn't much time for sightseeing. The officers left on August 29 and returned early on the morning of September 5th.
"We were part of the inner perimeter of venue security and we work from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.," Grott said. "We stayed at a hotel in Blaine, which was about 15 minutes from an old National Guard base that served as our staging area and we bussed in from there."
Grott said what was supposed to be a 12-hour shift ended up being more becuase of travel and the congestion in St. Paul, the smaller of Minnesota's Twin Cities.
"I"m not complaining, it was a very good experience to be a part of and see how much work went into it," Grott said. "We were told at the briefing it was the second largest gathering of law enforcement in U.S. history. I'm not sure what was first."
Being part of the night shift enabled the officers to be on hand as the main speakers participated. Grott said they were able to hear all of the major floor speeches while on patrol in the arena and he had many of the nation's governors and President Bush's cabinet members who went through his post. He said Gibson's detail included the area where former presidential candidate and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani walked through.
Brad Waddell and Sam Smith were the representatives from the Adams County Sheriff's Office who took part in the detail.
Adams County Republican Chairman Larry Ehmen, who attended the convention as an alternate McCain delegate, said security was heavy all around the city and not just in the Xcel Energy Center, where the convention was held. He was on a river cruise that he didn't believe included any dignitaries and the boat still had Coast Guard offcers armed with automatic rifles. The Mississippi River was also filled with patrol boats.
"I've never seen so many cops," Ehmen said.
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Reply #3 on : Sun September 07, 2008, 16:01:06