NCJ Number
242456
Date Published
March 2013
Length
67 pages
Annotation
This report presents an analysis of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's operations during the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Abstract
In September 2012, the Democratic Party held their national convention in Charlotte, NC. Due to the large number of attendees and the high-profile nature of the event, the convention posed unique problems for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). This report presents an analysis of the operations of the CMPD to handle the planning and operational challenges posed by the event. The analysis identified best practices of the CMPD during this event: pre-event planning, collaboration between local authorities, use of technologies and criminal intelligence, effective personnel recruitment, pre-event training of personnel on the legal and civil rights of attendees, effective crowd control, and effective coordination between command and control throughout the event. These best practices are described in detail in the report, along with key lessons learned by the CMPD as a result of their experience. Key lessons learned include proper use of planning subcommittees, stressing the need for flexible operations, streamlining arrest processing, and having effective financial/grant management. The analysis found that overall, the efforts of the CMPD and its partner public safety agencies were aligned with the planning objectives established before the convention, enabling officers to be well prepared to handle any incident that could have arisen during the event itself. Appendixes