Be prepared is the motto of agencies in charge of handling protesters, who don’t like the restrictions.
The security command center looks like a room straight out of a Hollywood thriller — its long rows of tables set with phones and laptops, flat screens on the walls with zooming satellite images of downtown Denver.
It’s a 24-hour nerve center for command-level authorities keeping a watchful eye over security for this week’s Democratic National Convention. If protesters — or anyone — tries anything unlawful, leaders of 62 agencies ranging from the Secret Service to the city’s waste department will be watching and responding.
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Convention host cities can plan for the traffic, the parties and the speeches that come with 6,000 politically charged delegates and 15,000 deadline-stressed media.
But until protesters show up, local authorities — like those in St. Paul preparing for next week’s Republican National Convention — don’t know exactly what to expect. So they prepare for everything.
“Anything that could possibly happen is talked about in the advance plan,” said Malcolm Wiley of the Secret Service, the lead security agency.
