GPD Prepares For Protesters
posted: April 19, 2007 | category: Uncategorized
tags: events, Greensboro, police
Another blogger pointed me to David Allen’s post questioning whether Chief Bellamy knows that the head of the Intelligence Division is out of town, and expressing his concerns about GPD’s readiness for this weekend’s planned anti-war rally and counter-protest.
After reading the post, I called Cpl. Rankin, the same officer that Allen spoke with, and learned the following:
Chief Bellamy is aware that Sgt. Ritchie is away (job-related) and administration staff have been referring Ritchie’s calls to Rankin.
The Intelligence team has been working on plans for this weekend’s event since they first became aware of it. The team is focusing exclusively on it. Rankin said there have been a few other issues that have required immediate attention, and he’s pulled team members away to handle those, but as soon as those other issues were resolved, the officers involved rejoined the rest of the team in working on plans for the weekend.
Rankin assured me that there would be “a strong police presence” for this weekend’s events. Rankin didn’t discuss the team’s plans, nor would I expect him to do so.
Allen may be troubled, but I felt reassured after talking to Cpl. Rankin. I appreciate his team’s efforts and I’m praying for a very peaceful weekend for all involved.
UPDATE: Sandy posts an email from Chief Bellamy in the comments. A snippet:
“We are fully aware of the possible confrontation during Ms. Sheehan visit. We are in contact with both groups of demonstrators and we have an intensive operational plan in place for this event.”
UPDATE #2: David Allen apparently double-posted, and then went back and deleted one of the two. So I’ve re-linked to the remaining post. Unfortunately, he deleted the post with comments from me and Sandy. But Sandy posted a similar comment below.
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[…] Cara Michele Forrest: […] “Rankin assured me that there would be “a strong police presence” for this weekend’s events. Rankin didn’t discuss the team’s plans, nor would I expect him to do so.” […] […]
I immediately forwarded David’s email to Chief Bellamy and had this response waiting for me this morning:
We are fully aware of the possible confrontation during Ms. Sheehan visit. We are in contact with both groups of demonstrators and we have an intensive operational plan in place for this event. We are also aware of the threats and counter threats made by both groups.
I will forward your information to appropriate police personnel for follow-up.
Thanks, Sandy.
I am very glad to hear they are taking it seriously.
But to clarify, Chief Bellamy’s office told me to speak with Sgt. Ritchie, gave me his number, then transferred me to his line. I then got the message that Ritchie was out of the office until 5/15.
If they knew this, why not send me to Cpl. Ranking direct?
As I said in my post, Cpl. Rankin seemed a competent and reasonable police officer, but if the GPD wants to impress the public, they should be sure they don’t refer concerned citizens to people who aren’t there.
Just saying.
David, I honestly don’t know. I think that more than one person answers the phone in the Chief’s office, so maybe it was someone who didn’t know Ritchie was out, or maybe they just gave you that info automatically and it slipped their mind for a moment that he was gone. But I’m just speculating… What I do know is that Chief B. knows that Sgt. Ritchie is away, he knows the deal about this weekend, and GPD is on it.