RNC Check-In: Helminiak Talks Security

Sykesville resident Larry Helminiak is the Chair of the Carroll County Republican Central Committee. He said he has been a GOP delegate since 2003 and has gone to one national convention, in 2008 in Minnesota.

He is serving as a Delegate this year in Tampa and will be sending updates to Patch. Following are his most recent updates.

Tuesday, Aug. 28 11 a.m.

At  noon today buses filled with delegates will be filling the roads heading to the convention.   Big news  is that  Martin O’Malley  is in Tampa trying to take some attention away from   the   Republicans   He is making it obvious that he intends to lead the Democrat Presidential ticket in 2016.   I’m looking forward to seeing how the security folks will handle demonstrators.  Each year, at each event, professional protestors get better and better at circumventing the tactics of the police. And they get more aggressive.   With cameras awaiting, they try to create a situation where police with hit them, then see it on the ever ready National News.   Inspections going into the arena are tighter than ever before, with some people having to go through lines two or three times.

Monday, Aug. 27

Tuesday is now to be the first “convention day”.  Rather than extend the program another day, speakers will be asked to shorten their presentations so that we can put on a four day convention in three days. 

I attended the last convention in Minnesota and learned a lot about how they are handled.  An area of about 2 blocks surrounding the convention center is secured, with no vehicles but previously authorized ones allowed.   

The plan was for police to be brought to Tampa from all over Florida; but the hurricane changed that, and the police stayed in their own cities.   They are using the National Guard for security.   Getting inside requires check point after check point and electronically checked ID.  AS new ID card is issued each day to each Delegate.  

No one is allowed to bring in their own signs.  Occasionally someone who has antagonistic intentions manages to get through. You’ve all see people speaking when interrupted by the crowd chanting, “USA   USA   USA”, and thought that those folks are awfully rude. The fact is, it is pre-arranged. If someone tries to disrupt the convention by shouting, the surrounding crowd has been told to shout them down with shouts of “USA    USA   USA”  

It does two things.  First it drowns out the disrupter.  Second, it attracts the attention of security, who can converge on that person and remove them from the arena.

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