Tampa Assistant Police Chief Marc Hamlin told the City Council on Thursday that two/thirds of the $50 million — roughly more than $33 million — that the city is receiving for security for the Republican National Convention will be for personnel, with the remaining amount going to purchase equipment and technology.
That approximate $33 million will pay for the 3,000 additional law enforcement officers who will be joining the 1,000 Tampa police officers in providing security in Tampa during the convention, which will run from August 27-30. The money would be used to pay, feed and house them. Some critics have questioned if that might be excessive for the week-long event, but Hamlin said the city was disappointed it didn’t receive the $55 million figure originally requested.
City Council member Mary Mulhern asked Hamlin if the Council could get a breakdown of what that $50 million will be spent on. Hamlin said such information was not for public consumption, but he would try to provide a general breakdown at a later date.
But he was resistant to Mulhern’s request that some of those funds could be spent on facilities for the homeless. Mulhern said that the board had been “pressured” to craft a panhandling ban this year in anticipation of the convention, and said this could be an opportunity to access such funds for that purpose.
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2012.
