Security for Convention Faces Review

In the wake of the Atlanta bombing, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding called Saturday for an emergency meeting today of officials involved with security for the Republican National Convention, slated to begin in San Diego on Aug. 12.

One topic of discussion will be whether to reverse a decision by city officials not to install metal detectors at the two-acre site across the street from the convention center which has been designated as the official protest zone.

“That will be one of a lot of things we’ll be reviewing,” said San Diego Police Capt. David Bejarano, in charge of security for the convention.

Still, Bejarano said, he did not anticipate any major changes. “We are very confident and very comfortable that we have a solid plan for security” at the convention center and the overall city, he said.

Republican organizers had asked that metal detectors be used to scan people using the protest site, 165 feet from the perimeter of the convention center.

But City Manager Jack McGrory decided that metal detectors are not feasible because of the need to get large numbers of people in and out of the protest zone in short order. McGrory also said the cost of the detectors, estimated at up to $100,000, was too high.

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Some 65 groups have signed up for 50-minute slots to use the zone to express their social and political views. The protest zone, which is now a parking lot, will be ringed by a wire fence and under constant scrutiny by police, who will watch everyone entering the site and, if necessary, conduct searches.

A federal judge, who had earlier rejected the Republicans’ proposal to put the protesters 625 feet from the convention center, last week turned down an informal suggestion from the GOP to require metal detectors at the closer site. He had indicated that detectors might be a good idea after the downing of TWA Flight 800.

U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster asked the lawyers for the Republicans if they wanted to make a formal request, backed by legal arguments, seeking an order requiring metal detectors. The lawyers, although not happy about Brewster’s decision approving the site 165 feet from the center, turned down his offer.

On Saturday, Republican spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick declined to say whether the party might return to Brewster’s court with a formal request for metal detectors. He said only that GOP officials “are constantly assessing our security plan.”

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Metal detectors and other unspecified security measures, will be used to screen delegates, journalists and others entering the convention center. The center will be ringed by a fence and patrolled 24 hours. Bejarano said police have high-tech devices capable of detecting anyone carrying explosives such as a pipe bomb.

“Certainly what happened in Atlanta concerns us and we will be reviewing our planning as more is known,” said Joe Perez, agent in charge of the San Diego office of the Secret Service, which has responsibility for guarding VIPs.

Perez declined to say how many Secret Service agents will be assigned to the convention. San Diego police officials plan to have all 2,000 officers working 12-hour shifts during convention week. The convention runs from Aug. 12 to 15, but the partying and protesting are set to begin Aug. 10.

The meeting called by Golding is in addition to the nearly daily meetings between representatives of 18 local and federal agencies that have been developing security plans for the convention for more than a year.