Greensboro police made the decision earlier this week to pull its officers from the event, saying the city isn’t providing workers’ compensation for coverage for out-of-town officers and is requiring them to get physical exams they’d have to pay for themselves. “But of course in any situation, we try to plan and prepare as best we can”, Lt. Brian James, Greensboro’s deputy chief of police, told ABC. “Of course, we will be officers working out of jurisdiction, so we are totally reliant on the Cleveland Police Department for direction”. Ohio, the local group planning the inequality march, said the city’s plan is unacceptable and “nebulous”. “And we don’t have that information at this time”.
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The city argued it needed to ensure “all hands on deck” for the convention in July, and that it needed to cancel all police leaves for the three weeks before, during and after the convention.
The huge police presence has been ordered amidst fears that the main event at the convention – the official coronation of Donald Trump as the party’s 2016 presidential nominee – could trigger large protests and possible acts of civil disobedience in the north OH metropolis.
The News & Record of Greensboro reports (http://bit.ly/1sfddHA) the city has decided against sending officers to help with crowd control and other potential problems.
“We’re not at full strength where we want to be, but we’re very close to that”, said Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams.
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Also on Friday a Cincinnati police spokesman said it had decided not to send officers as well due to the same concerns, plus the fact that the NAACP is holding its convention in the city on the same week. “I can’t stress enough that we are prepared for this”, he said.
