Aurora won't send 300 cops to help Denver provide security at the Democratic National Convention unless Denver picks up the tab for liability and worker's compensation, Aurora officials said Wednesday.

Denver plans to contract with as many as 30 law enforcement agencies - including Aurora, Colorado Springs, Lakewood, Littleton and Westminster - for extra security at the DNC.

But Aurora City Attorney Charlie Richardson said Denver is dragging its feet in reaching agreements with them and could fall short of the 4,000 to 5,000 law enforcement officers it will need.

"Denver has so far been unwilling to spend city funds to support or provide for the needs of outside law enforcement services," he said.

The Aug. 25-28 event is expected to draw thousands of protesters, some of whom have promised to defy the law.

Richardson said he will recommend to the City Council next month that Aurora withhold its 300 officers, roughly 50 percent of its force, if Denver remains unwilling to shield Aurora from a potential raft of civil rights lawsuits and injuries to its cops.

Denver has different take

"Based on national experience with large events of this nature, you see civil rights lawsuits and worker's compensation claims by officers who are injured," Richardson said.

But Denver disputes that it is unwilling to cover all security costs.

"The issue is not whether we will provide liability and worker's comp. The issue is how we fund that liability and worker's comp," said Katherine Archuleta, senior adviser to the mayor.

Denver is still in discussions with Aurora and numerous cities and counties, trying to work out a number of critical issues, including worker's compensation and liability coverage, she said.

In the past three days, Denver has had a number of conversations with the U.S. Secret Service and Department of Justice to determine how those costs will be funded, Archuleta said.

Denver has received a $50 million federal grant to cover DNC security costs, but until this week it's been locked up in a congressional committee, she said.

Denver City Attorney David Fine said how much the city compensates other cities for security help, including Aurora, is still being hammered out.

'It's quite complicated'

"We are working very hard both internally and with other agencies, particularly Aurora, to work through these issues," Fine said. "Unfortunately it's quite complicated, so it's taking some time."

Aurora is not alone in its demand that Denver buffer it from lawsuits and other liabilities.

Lt. Skip Arms, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Police Department, said it's safe to assume conversations are taking place surrounding those issues, as well as overtime pay and housing.

"Unlike Aurora, our officers don't live 15 to 20 minutes away . . . We have to decide if people will stay up there or commute, and that will impact our costs."

Negotiations take time because agreements with neighboring cities and counties must be approved by their city councils and county commissioners.

"Denver may say we need x, y, z, and we'll have to go to council to see if the city has the resources," said Lt. Sean Dugan, Littleton police spokesman.

Aurora and Colorado Springs have long told Denver they would provide police assistance for the DNC provided it comes at no costs to those cities.

Lakewood, Westminster and Douglas County officials say it's premature to assume Denver won't cover all costs. Lakewood plans to help Denver no matter how the funding shakes out.

Read the comments some real gems there

c'mon, Denver convention!

<insert pic of hippie throwing molotov>

Quoted: Read the comments some real gems there

A link would help.

Quoted: Denver has received a $50 million federal grant to cover DNC security costs, but until this week it's been locked up in a congressional committee, she said.

Uh, the convention there is POLITICAL.  Why the fuck should a single dime of my tax money go to funding EITHER convention?

The DNC and RNC should have to pony up for everything involved.

www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/16/no-dnc-liability-no-aurora-cops/

Denver Post Staff Writers
Article Last Updated: 06/04/2007 12:53:43 AM MDT


With thousands of demonstrators expected to descend on Denver for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, top city officials have been meeting with a protest group in hopes of minimizing the potential for conflict.

And the City Council next week will consider a proclamation prepared by the group - dubbed Re-create '68 - that restates Denver's commitment to protecting First Amendment rights during the event.

Re-create '68 says "tens of thousands" of peace and community activists hope to make Denver a pivotal political convention when the delegates come to town Aug. 25-28 next year.

The group aims to demand a change from the country's two-party system by making the violence-marred Democratic convention of 1968 "look like a small get together in 2008!" according to its website.

A lead organizer, Glenn Spagnuolo, says he hopes to frame the debate from the outset in terms of nonviolence and to coordinate security planning in such a way that police and protesters interact peacefully.

"I do have to give credit to the city of Denver," Spagnuolo said. "They were very welcoming and open to listening to our concerns."

Spagnuolo said he crafted a proclamation based on similar measures passed by New York and St. Paul, Minn. After some editing and condensing, City Councilwoman Kathleen Mac Kenzie has a draft she intends to submit to the council June 11.

The proclamation asks that the city "welcomes demonstrators with the same respect and honor accorded to convention delegates" and that "use of force, including the use of horses, pepper spray or other aggressive means to police public demonstrations, is restricted except to the minimal extent required by legitimate law-enforcement purposes."

MacKenzie said it is appropriate to welcome all visitors for the convention.

"Protesters who are coming are coming precisely because we have the convention and want to influence the media attention," she said. "Denver should say, 'We care about free- speech rights, we respect your right to protest, and we are going to do our best to accommodate all the people we expect the convention to draw."'

Still, MacKenzie said she hoped the group did not exactly "re-create '68."

Past security criticized

After widespread violence marred the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968, officials from both parties agreed to sequester demonstrators in 1972, and the practice has continued over time.

But following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the extra security measures used in both 2004 national political conventions were widely criticized as hostile to demonstrators.

At the Republican convention in New York that year, protesters were kept to an area far from the site of the convention. More than 1,000 people were arrested and held for 24 hours when, critics say, a written citation and summons to appear would have sufficed.

At the Democratic convention in Boston, demonstrators were kept near the delegates' entry to the security zone, but protesters like Spagnuolo complained that they were kept too far away to be heard.

"It was a cage," he said of the chain-link fence topped with rolled barbed wire stretched before the demonstrators. "We were stuck under an overpass, out of sight, out of mind."

Boston officials dispute that claim, saying protesters were "within sight and sound" of the delegates as they entered the secure area.

"We only had six arrests for unlawful behavior," said David Passafaro, the president of Boston's host committee. "It was nothing. It wasn't even a blip."

Passafaro called the resolution Spagnuolo has drafted for Denver politically tricky.

"My mayor (Thomas Menino) was never willing to say, 'We ought to do it this way,"' Passafaro said. "He's not a cop. ... Politically, the mayor never wanted to own (the treatment of demonstrators), because he didn't want to own the outcome."

"Friendly and congenial"

At their first meeting with Denver city officials and police, Re-create '68 organizers and attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild said they asked that such fencing not be used in Denver.

Katherine Archuleta, Mayor John Hickenlooper's senior adviser for policy and initiatives, said the meetings were "friendly and congenial."

"We are not going to agree on everything," Archuleta said, "but we want to have a forum where we can disagree."

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said security planning wasn't advanced enough to describe specific details.

"Our bottom line is we respect the right of people to assemble," Jackson said. "Our main concern is that public safety is respected. Public safety is paramount to us."

Not every city official is thrilled about welcoming a group named after a historic riot.

"Why would anyone want to re-create what happened in Chicago in 1968?" City Councilman Charlie Brown said. "There were people hurt and injured - and these people want to make it look 'like a small get-together.' That's a serious threat to our city."

 


We're headin' for our other place that week. No even going to try to get downtown..

Quoted: Quoted: Denver has received a $50 million federal grant to cover DNC security costs, but until this week it's been locked up in a congressional committee, she said. Uh, the convention there is POLITICAL.  Why the fuck should a single dime of my tax money go to funding EITHER convention? The DNC and RNC should have to pony up for everything involved.

+1

Living in Aurora, Im glad...this city is turning into a shithole itself...the last thing we need is fewer officers...

Quoted: Working in a Podunk town I sometimes think it would be cool to get to go work one of those details, then reality sets in. But hey, I might actually get to use one of those riot helmets DHS bought us.

Good stick time
Bad smells
Possiblity to catch fire not so coll

It would be better if no cops showed up.

At least more interesting

Quoted: Working in a Podunk town I sometimes think it would be cool to get to go work one of those details, then reality sets in. But hey, I might actually get to use one of those riot helmets DHS bought us.

Plus you could have a justifiable excuse to bash some hippies....

Not that you'd do anything like that, right?

Quoted: Working in a Podunk town I sometimes think it would be cool to get to go work one of those details, then reality sets in. But hey, I might actually get to use one of those riot helmets DHS bought us.

It sucks... I have a friend who has to get involved in this shit ever election cycle, hates it!

Pretty funny.  Liberal, Democrat lawyers drive up the costs of workers comp and liability insurance for everyone then refuse to buy it for the cops protecting their own convention.  

They should require no police protection, that is the old way of doing things. The Dems this year are about hope and change, I'll be waiting with popcorn and Beer

Denver members, a suggestion, Fire insurance and a long weekend

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Working in a Podunk town I sometimes think it would be cool to get to go work one of those details, then reality sets in. But hey, I might actually get to use one of those riot helmets DHS bought us. Plus you could have a justifiable excuse to bash some hippies.... Not that you'd do anything like that, right? Only if they touched me.

What if a hippie chick with huge knockers, that did not smell too bad, touched you?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Working in a Podunk town I sometimes think it would be cool to get to go work one of those details, then reality sets in. But hey, I might actually get to use one of those riot helmets DHS bought us. Plus you could have a justifiable excuse to bash some hippies.... Not that you'd do anything like that, right? Only if they touched me. What if a hippie chick with huge knockers, that did not smell too bad, touched you?

You may as well ask him what he would do if the easter bunny came to his door with a Shrike.