Coyote Gulch

Saturday, August 11, 2007

2008 Democratic National Convention

Ed Perlmutter is hoping that DNC officials and the city of Denver do a better job of protecting protesters civil rights next August than Boston did in 2004, according to The Denver Post. From the article:

Denver ought to do a better job of dealing with protesters at the 2008 Democratic National Convention than Boston did with those "who held the bull horns" in 2004, Colorado Congressman Ed Perlmutter said today.

"I think we can do it better than Boston did," Perlmutter said after a two-hour congressional subcommittee field hearing in the Aurora City Council chambers that focused on security issues surrounding the convention.

Boston has been criticized by groups planning to protest during the 2008 convention because police kept protesters in fenced-off areas far from the convention hall. Perlmutter said he saw those areas in Boston first-hand, and bristled at the arrangements.

Echoing remarks by California Rep. Jane Harmon, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment chairwoman, Perlmutter said federal, state and local security forces must protect the safety of residents and conventioneers and also protesters' civil liberties. "We're going to do a better job of balancing that," Perlmutter said.

More coverage from The Rocky Mountain News. They write:

Members of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment stressed Friday that while keeping people safe will be an enormous job, doing it without infringing on their freedoms will be even more difficult - and just as important. "Security and liberty are not a zero- sum game," said U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who chaired the subcommittee's field hearing in Aurora. "You either get more of both, or less of both. Denver has a challenge but also an opportunity to show that this is a state, and this is a city, that gets it."[...]

The Secret Service will coordinate security through a 24-hour communications hub that links local and national law enforcement and public safety agencies, said Tim Koerner, Secret Service assistant director.

In 2005, Colorado created its own information-sharing network - the Colorado Information Analysis Center, or CIAC - to get critical intelligence to a wide range of local, state and federal agencies. CIAC works closely with the Rubicon Team, which monitors the vulnerability of the state's key infrastructure and resources.

"The CIAC acts as an early warning system for actual or suspected terrorist attacks, natural disasters and criminal activities," said James Wolfinbarger, director of the state Office of Preparedness and Security, which was created to detect and deter terrorism in the state.
"2008 pres"
8:58:47 AM

? for President?
Today is the Iowa Straw Poll. The Denver Post is on hand.
"2008 pres"
8:53:17 AM