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Denver gets millions in equipment from DNC

City departments benefit from costs some call excessive

By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 10, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Denver Fire Department Mechanic 1 Dan Ramsey steps out of a new hazmat vehicle at the fleet garage. The $750,000 truck was stationed at the Pepsi Center and went unused during the Democratic National Convention. It goes into service with the department this week.

Photo by Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

Denver Fire Department Mechanic 1 Dan Ramsey steps out of a new hazmat vehicle at the fleet garage. The $750,000 truck was stationed at the Pepsi Center and went unused during the Democratic National Convention. It goes into service with the department this week.

Nine "rapid-deployment vehicles" were bought for the Denver Police Department for more than $500,000. The SUV's outfitted with running boards were seen frequently during the convention.

Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez / The Rocky

Nine "rapid-deployment vehicles" were bought for the Denver Police Department for more than $500,000. The SUV's outfitted with running boards were seen frequently during the convention.

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Denver firefighters racing to a call in the department's new hazmat truck can sit at two desks in the midsection and research dangerous chemicals with a few computer key strokes.

The back of the boxy white truck has folding seats that make it easier to put on a bulky hazardous material suit. And the vehicle is outfitted with $160,000 worth of equipment that can detect and measure everything from chlorine gas to powdered sugar.

This state-of-the-art truck with a $750,000 sticker price is courtesy of the federal government. So are the $760,000 heavy rescue truck and the $215,000 armored vehicle for Denver police.

All this and much more are the spoils from the Democratic National Convention. The U.S. Justice Department gave Denver $50 million to provide security for the four-day convention in August. Minnesota's Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul - hosted the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and that city also got $50 million for security.

Much of Denver's grant money - about $28 million - was spent on personnel costs such as salaries and overtime, mostly for police. The city has estimated equipment costs will reach about $18 million.

Some of the vehicles are almost showroom new.

The 10-wheel hazmat truck never moved from its Pepsi Center staging area during the convention. Ditto for the heavy rescue vehicle, outfitted with tools such as the Jaws of Life, and the $650,000 customized tractor trailer that carries material to shore up a collapsed building.

Denver police never had to roll out their $215,000 BearCat armored vehicle purchased with convention security money, said Denver Deputy Safety Manager Mel Thompson. The nine police SUVs with running boards (cost: $517,500), dubbed "rapid-deployment vehicles," were highly visible around downtown throughout the convention.

Is spending justified?

High dollar spending on political conventions, particularly for security, is based on the principle of better safe than sorry. Still, critics say the allotments to host cities are over the top, providing police and fire departments the public safety equivalent of Alaska's "bridge to nowhere."

"It's better to have had those resources there and not need them, than to have needed the resources and not have them," said Ellis M. Stanley Sr., who earned around $250,000 from Denver's grant for six months work coordinating DNC security planning.

And because St. Paul and Denver get to keep the goods, the argument goes, local citizens will be better fortified against future calamities.

"You've got a much better prepared region now for anything that occurs," Stanley adds.

Supporters also say the grants help protect the democratic process.

"The convention process has to go on for both parties," said Domingo S. Herraiz, director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which oversees the grants. "If not, how are we going to elect a president?"

But the outspoken former Minneapolis police chief, Tony Bouza, questions whether the level of spending is justified.

"The federal government throwing money at it like that encourages the police to engage in grotesque overindulgence," Bouza said. "It's like giving alcoholics unlimited supplies of booze."

Denver made 154 arrests at DNC-related demonstrations. St. Paul made more than 800.

Bouza, who testified against Denver in an ACLU lawsuit opposing certain aspects of the city's convention security, also said the security grants - "pretty much, every single penny" - destroy government credibility. One reason is that they encourage wasteful spending.

Bouza said federal assistance for local law enforcement probably dates to the early 1960s during Vietnam War protests. But he and others say officials sharpened the importance of such assistance after the massive 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle which, according to a city report, "shook public confidence in the city's ability to maintain order . . . and resulted in property damage, loss of business, civil rights violations and lawsuits."

The police chief in that city resigned and the mayor lost his bid for re-election.

"Seattle is the ghost that hovers over all of us," Bouza said.

Spending audit planned

Herraiz of the Justice Department said spending decisions are not taken lightly. His office examines each purchase, he said. Is it logical? Necessary? Practical? The best way to operate?

"If you're going to buy a mobile command center, why is it the one you have does not cut it?" Herraiz explains. "We don't want it to be a boondoggle."

Denver did buy one for $745,000; St. Paul for $560,000.

One justification for buying instead of leasing is that you can't find this kind of stuff at Avis. Officials say each city customizes its public safety equipment to its own liking.

Even if Denver were to borrow, for example, a hazmat vehicle from Los Angeles, what would Los Angeles use in an emergency?

Denver police and fire spent around $3.6 million for 14 vehicles. That's an average of $260,000 each.

Denver's largest, non-personnel line item was $3 million for 700 police radios.

Thompson, the deputy safety manager, said all were used during the convention to put officers from different jurisdictions on the same 800 MHz frequency. Denver police, fire, parks and public works employees will continue to use those radios.

Another major purchase was $1 million for security cameras known as HALO, or High Activity Location Observation. Some have since been used for drug stings around Civic Center, said Denver police Lt. Ernest Martinez.

Denver also spent $652,000 on 1,800 ballistic helmets for Denver police and sheriff's deputies. Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the new helmets have "much better technology" but he declined to elaborate, citing officer safety.

Herraiz said his office met with Denver and St. Paul officials before the purchases were made, and will now audit the expenditures.

DNC spending

Top 10 estimated expenditures Denver made using a $50 million security grant for the Democratic National Convention (excluding personnel and administrative items):

1 $3 million: 700 radios

2 Just over $1 million: renting traffic barricades

3 $1 million: HALO (High Activity Location Observation) cameras

4 $760,000: technical rescue/heavy rescue vehicle

5 $750,000: hazmat vehicle

6 $745,000: mobile command post

7 $652,000: 1,800 ballistic helmets

8 $650,000: dispatch system for public safety workers

9 $650,000: tractor trailer/ collapse rescue vehicle

10 $517,500: nine rapid- deployment vehicles

Comments

  • November 10, 2008

    7:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Withheld_99 writes:

    The fact that the convention went smoothly with nothing more than minor "confrontations" is a clear indication that the money was well-spent. None of the items purchased for the DNC are returnable, so use them for the public good.

  • November 10, 2008

    9:17 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jbowen43 writes:

    Why not have the government keep this equipment and store it for use at the conventions in 2012, 2016, 2020?

  • November 10, 2008

    9:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    skiinxs1 writes:

    And the dems complained about $150000 for clothes for Palin. (two thirds of which were returned to the store because of the wrong size). At least there are people out there wearing the clothes right now instead of the stuff sitting in a warehouse waiting for a "disaster". I mean come on, a million for traffic barrier rental??? Probably could have bought them for a half a million and they could be sitting in a warehouse with the rest of the stuff

  • November 10, 2008

    12:37 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mikeb80602 writes:

    So how much does it cost to store a half million dollars worth of traffic barricades?

  • November 12, 2008

    8:08 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JINX writes:

    yeah cause the "dems" were the only one who spent the money. THe repubs can only see the beer half full. The equipment that was obtained will do wonders for this regionfrom bomb disposal to chemical attacks to the minor safety of all our officers. This equipment will benefit US far beyond anything this region could of bought for itself. Any terrorist attack, which could happen, will be responded to in with better equipment and better trained first responders. That in itself was money well spent. Further, no one cares about Palin's clothes.