Crime & Law
Chicago Police Leaders Trek to Milwaukee for Firsthand Look at Convention Security Ahead of Next Month’s DNC
Before the Republican National Convention draws to a close in Milwaukee, Chicago police officials are in town to learn more about the safety and security measures in place ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention.
The DNC is set to run from Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
Officers from Chicago have been in Milwaukee all week assisting with security around the RNC security footprint, but Duane DeVries, CPD’s chief of counterterrorism, and more department officials made the trek to Wisconsin on Wednesday to take a look at the convention’s safety plans firsthand.
“The perimeter is very tight, we got checked coming in ourselves,” DeVries told WTTW News in Milwaukee Wednesday afternoon. “It’s been nice seeing it all because obviously in a month it’s gonna be all in Chicago. It’s good to see it here as it’s kind of laid out because the fencing and a lot of the systems will be the same engineering in a different neighborhood.”
Safety concerns have been few and far between in Milwaukee during the RNC. Local police have reported few arrests, and only a fraction of the expected number of protest groups have demonstrated in the city.
While those actions have been limited in Milwaukee, DeVries said his department is still preparing for extensive protests at the DNC next month.
“We’ve been having protests in Chicago every weekend and they have been peaceful,” he said. “As the city of Chicago, we won’t tolerate criminal activity, acts of vandalism or violence, but as long as people are peaceful and want to speak their voices, we have no problem with that.”
One major difference between the RNC and DNC is that Milwaukee’s convention is set at a single site, while Chicago’s will be hosted at two — the United Center and McCormick Place. While those sites bring separate challenges, DeVries said the areas will be used at separate times — one during the day, the other at night — and CPD has successfully handled security at numerous events in both locations.
During their Milwaukee visit, DeVries and other department officials are set to tour protest zones and local command centers around the city, as well as discuss with local authorities which safety measures have worked and which can be improved before next month.
Police officers from departments around the country came to Milwaukee to assist with security during the RNC. That included officers from Columbus, Ohio, who fatally shot a man about a mile from the convention hall Tuesday afternoon.
DeVries said all additional police coming to Chicago for the DNC will either be from elsewhere in Illinois or Milwaukee, and those officers will not be assigned to areas outside of the convention’s security footprint.
“The districts themselves are going to be all Chicago police,” he said. “We’re not asking any outside resources to patrol the city of Chicago.”
The Columbus officers who fatally shot a man in Milwaukee were assigned to a bike team that was debriefing outside the RNC security perimeter when the team allegedly observed the man carrying a pair of knives while engaged in an altercation with another person.
Columbus police officials released body camera footage of the shooting Tuesday, and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said Wednesday it does not appear the incident was related to the RNC.
DeVries said it was “unfortunate” that officers who came to Milwaukee to assist with the convention “end(ed) up in a situation like that,” but said that if police see a crime being committed, “they’re gonna take action.”
“That’s what they’re trained to do,” he said.
