WOOSTER — Emergency management officials from Wayne County will be part of efforts monitoring activities during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month. EMA Director Joe Villegas and planner Barb Pittard will be among those who will work with the Cuyahoga County Emergency Operations Center. The convention will be July 18-21 in the Quicken Loans Arena, and because it is in Cleveland, the Cleveland City Emergency Operations Center will be the primary center. The RNC is expected to attract 50,000 people, and Cleveland is reaching out to other law enforcement agencies within and without Ohio to help provide security during the event. Villegas and Pittard will help with “situational awareness” activities. They will be part of …show more content…
“Our interaction will be putting pieces together, like a puzzle.” “We won’t know where we’ll be stationed” or what they will be doing, exactly, Pittard said. “We’ll know more as it gets closer. They’re really busy getting everything together right now.” During a briefing with reporters at the end of May, Police Chief Calvin Williams said the number of police officers working outside the "hard" security zone surrounding the convention venue, Quicken Loans Arena, would be "in the thousands." Mayor Frank Jackson said Cleveland officials have visited every city that has hosted a national political convention since 2004 to learn about best practices for security. "We are prepared," Jackson said. "We have done our diligence in many different ways." Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor visited Wooster recently, and during a roundtable discussion she was asked about the economic impact of the convention. While she did not have the figures in front of her, Taylor said it would be “significant.” She then talked about how she believed Cleveland and the state will be ready at all levels of security, partly because local police departments and county sheriff’s offices will be sending first responders. This will be the fourth time the Republican Party had its convention in Ohio, and the third time it was in Cleveland (1924 and 1936 were the other two). In 1976, it was held in