‘Gonna be insanity’: Inside how Milwaukee Police will secure the Republican convention
As eight Republican presidential candidates descended upon Milwaukee last summer for a Fox News debate, the last thing on any politician’s mind were seemingly silly photos of Iowa women Heather Ryan and Kara Ryan.
In one selfie image, Heather, now 52, flashes a thumbs up while wearing bedazzled pink glasses and a “Navy Vet” visor alongside Kara, her 29-year-old niece, and the state trooper who was kicking them out of last year’s Iowa State Fair — for blowing whistles during then-Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ conversation with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Kara and Heather wore black shirts emblazoned with “B------ GET STUFF DONE,” the name of their activist group and Iowa political action committee.
This Facebook photo of Heather Ryan (middle) and Kara Ryan (right) was flagged by law enforcement. (Photo provided by Kara Ryan)
But six states away, in Florida, special agent Ryan Bailey of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Tampa Bay didn’t like what he saw as he reviewed Facebook pages.
He flagged the Ryans as “Persons of Concern” to law enforcement and threat analysis units in Wisconsin. Bailey noted social media would be monitored. Local police in Milwaukee circulated photos of the Ryans despite no evidence that the women planned to be near the debate — or even in Wisconsin.
“No active threats or criminal investigations have been opened reference these, but our Protective Intelligence Unit wanted us to be aware,” Bailey said, according to emails obtained by Raw Story through a Wisconsin Open Records Law request.
Heather Ryan and Kara Ryan confirmed to Raw Story in phone interviews that their group — which started in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and is a nod to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s clapback at allegedly being called a “f—ing b----” by a Republican colleague in 2020 — did not attend the Republican debate on Aug. 23, 2023.
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“It's shocking,” said Heather Ryan, a window, door and bathroom salesperson from Bondurant, Iowa. “I was a member of Moms Demand Action for years, and their whole thing is to be nice to your legislators. We literally were supposed to bake them cookies, and I'm so fed up with baking them cookies, but I haven't gone to the militant point where I'm like a threat to anyone. This is stupid. If anything, they’re a threat to me.”
The surveillance of the Ryans, who have now decided to drive from Iowa to Milwaukee for next week’s Republican National Convention, provides a peek into the massive — but often unseen and unchecked — security efforts undergirding major political gatherings.
The 2023 Republican debate in Milwaukee involved numerous governmental and private security entities. And it likely represents just a fraction of the public safety resources mobilized for the Republican National Convention, which officially runs from July 15 to July 18 at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum and Wisconsin Center District.
In early July, the Milwaukee Police Department acknowledged Raw Story’s questions about security protocol and costs for both GOP debate and Republican National Convention. But officials had not responded to the questions more than a week later.
‘Great test run’: Initiating debate and convention planning
Despite police officials’ silence, more than a thousand pages of documents from the Milwaukee Police Department and City of Milwaukee obtained by Raw Story through the Wisconsin Open Records Law showcase the extensive planning and security efforts undertaken to host the Republican debate — an acknowledged dry run for the Republican National Convention, which would entail preparations starting more than a year in advance.
The documents indicate that planning spanned numerous organizations, jurisdictions and locations, with an ever-evolving web of responsibility connecting the most local of bureaucrats to those responsible for the nation’s security — including those who would take a bullet to keep presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump alive.
A worker prepares Fiserv Forum for the start of the Republican National Convention on July 11, 2024. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Alexi Worley, a spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service, told Raw Story via email that the agency worked with federal, state and local partners for more than a year to “develop and implement a security plan” for the Republican National Convention with the goal “to create a safe and secure environment for event attendees, volunteers and the city, while minimizing impact to the public.”
“We are grateful to state and local law enforcement for working with us to ensure the safety of our guests, candidates, and Milwaukee residents,” Jacob Fischer, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, told Raw Story via email. “Our partners are ensuring they are not only equipped with top-notch resources but are going above and beyond to ensure first responders are prepared for July.”
The Republican National Committee announced that Milwaukee would be the host city for the 2024 Republican National Convention in August 2022.
By late February 2023, discussions about the convention began appearing on meeting agendas for Milwaukee government employees, according to documents shared with Raw Story.
Public safety and security played an early and central role, according to the documents obtained by Raw Story nearly seven months after its initial request for records via the Wisconsin Open Records Law.
Nic Smith, special agent for the U.S. Secret Service based in Cape Girardeau, Mo., initiated outreach to members of the “2024 RNC Transportation and Traffic Subcommittee,” on June 23, 2023 — more than a year before the Republican National Convention — about scheduling monthly meetings about the convention, as well as for preparations for the impending debate.
That subcommittee included employees of the Milwaukee Police Department, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management, the Transportation Security Administration and Canadian Pacific Police Service — a railway law enforcement service — in addition to the U.S. Secret Service.
For a designated “national special security event” such as the Republican National Convention, the U.S. Secret service serves as the “lead agency for the design and implementation of the event’s operational security plan,” Worley said.
The agency relies on an executive steering committee with federal, state, and local agency representatives and several inter-agency subcommittees to execute different parts of the operational security plan, Worley said.
Fischer told Raw Story there are 25 subcommittees on security, ranging from “airport security to public safety to Emergency Medical Services.”
“The preparation for the 2024 Republican National Convention’s security plan is a joint effort, and the U.S. Secret Service appreciates the incredible support provided by our federal, state and local partners as we work together to ensure a safe and secure convention,” Worley said.
For the 2023 debate, the city was planning to host up to 7,000 ticketed attendees, 2,000 protesters and eight GOP presidential candidates for the debate — not including Trump, who decided to skip this and every other Republican primary debate.
By comparison, an estimated 50,000 visitors, delegates, members of the media and law enforcement personnel from across the country are anticipated to come to Milwaukee this month for the Republican National Convention.
This time, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is almost guaranteed to be there — along with a who’s who of GOP luminaries.
"For us, it's a great test run," Peter Feigin, president for the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team and Fiserv Forum, said about the Republican debate in an Aug. 18, 2023, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. "We'll have a lot of high-profile Republicans in town, in the venue that will host the convention.”
Eight Republican presidential candidates participate in the first primary debate at Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Feigin did not respond to Raw Story’s questions, and the communications team for the Milwaukee Bucks directed questions to the Republican National Committee. Fischer did not answer specific questions but said the Milwaukee Bucks "have been excellent partners throughout this process."
“I have no doubt that we will be able to come up with a security plan that works for everyone. My plan is to take a good look at what was planned for 2020 and see what parts of that plan still make sense for us in 2024,” Smith wrote.
The debate would end up involving coordination with numerous other entities for security support such as the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Milwaukee Bucks, to name a few.
“For more than a year, we have been working closely with our local, state and federal partners to prepare for both conventions. For safety reasons, we do not provide everyone the specific resources, including the number of officers, agents, technicians and civilian support staff who will be helping our partners keep everyone safe,” Tim Barber, a spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police, told Raw Story, noting that the agency protects members of Congress.
The Milwaukee Police Department’s Republican National Convention Planning Unit also began preparing weekly updates starting in June 2023 about convention planning efforts. This ranged from bidding for housing for police officers to commitments for police support from law enforcement agencies across the 48 contiguous United States.
The Milwaukee Police Department gathered research from cities that previously hosted presidential debates and conventions. Among them: Cleveland, which hosted the Republican National Convention in 2016 — and sent along their 274-page after action report — and Charlotte, whose 2020 Republican National Convention events were “canceled altogether or severely impacted by the pandemic.”
This research, however, was hardly academic.
Special training sessions were requested starting in June 2023 by Cory Strey, sergeant in the Milwaukee Police Department’s specialized patrol division, motorcycle unit, for escort training and motorcade ambush training from the Secret Service ahead of the convention and Republican National Committee events.
“With Milwaukee hosting the RNC in 2024 and Wisconsin as a major battleground state, we anticipate a high amount of dignitary visits not only for the RNC but leading up to the RNC,” Strey wrote on June 14, 2023, noting the upcoming debate as well.
Worley declined to confirm if the trainings happened.
“Out of concern for operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not discuss numbers of personnel supporting events, matters of protective intelligence, or the means and methods used for our protective operations, to include National Special Security Events like the 2024 Republican National Convention,” Worley said.
Businesspeople with money on their minds were also using the 2023 debate as an opportunity to build relationships that could pay off in time for the 2024 Republican National Convention.
In July 2023, salespeople were already reaching out to the Milwaukee Police Department about supporting Republican National Convention planning efforts, internal documents indicate.
Anticipating potential convention business, a sales manager for a wireless telecommunications company, Cradlepoint, offered the use of routers and adapters for the Milwaukee Police Department’s dispatch center and mobile command vehicles.
Cost for use during the debate: free.
“Something we do for a large number of mobile command vehicles for large events is an active/active device that’s looks at two separate networks simultaneously ensuring traffic passes in high congestion situations like the RNC, super bowl, civil unrest, flooding, etc,” wrote Garrett Sawyer, regional sales manager, public sector, for Cradlepoint. “This is in line with what I had in mind for the RNC that would add value and resiliency to operations for the dept.”
‘Response to potential violence’
At least 1,449 police officers from across the country committed to attend the Republican National Committee as of Aug. 11, 2023, according to an update sent by Matthew Palmer, lieutenant with the Milwaukee Police Department’s Republican National Convention planning unit.
That number may certainly be higher next week, although the Milwaukee Police Department did not answer Raw Story’s questions about the latest number of officers working the Republican National Committee from the city and across the country who are volunteered from their local departments to provide security support.
A report from Milwaukee TV station, WISN-TV, said 4,000 dorms were requested for use by some out-of-town officers, which would be paid for with a grant from the Department of Justice.
Police gather outside of the Wisconsin Center during the Democratic National Convention – held almost entirely virtually — on August 17, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
For the debate in August 2023, Milwaukee made significant changes to the way law enforcement officials were used and deployed.
One staffing document obtained by Raw Story showed that 654 sworn officers were scheduled to work the streets on Aug. 23, 2023, the day of the Republican debate, and another 155 sworn officers were assigned to inside duty. The Milwaukee Police Department did not confirm if those officers were just assigned to cover the debate.
Another memo showed the debate location assignments for 37 extra officers.
In early August 2023, police district captains were informed of an analysis that determined how many officers from each shift were to be allocated to the “Presidential Debate Mission.”
All time off requests were canceled for the day of and after the debate, requiring one police officer to reschedule a potential fishing outing with his son before school started.
Some Milwaukee police officials expressed internal concern about the changes.
Raymond Brock, a lieutenant for Milwaukee Police Department’s District Five, offered one police officer, Eric Santiago, to support the event.
“Please return him in one piece,” Brock said in an email.
Bradley W. Schlei, District Four captain for the Milwaukee Police Department, made the case in an email to Jeffrey Lintonen, lieutenant for the Milwaukee Police Department’s Major Incident Response Team, Republican National Committee Planning Unit, that supplying extra officers to the work the debate would put his district in a “bind.”
“I have three hospital guards that are going to be at least another week that I have to fill 24 hours a day. I am trying to do this on overtime but will not be able to during the RNC Debates due to all personnel working,” Schlei wrote, also noting that two officers were injured and out for at least two weeks.
Come next week, police officers will likely experience “blackout days” for time off throughout the entire Republican National Convention and the days leading up to it, said Justin Insalaco, a former officer with the West Windsor Police Department in New Jersey for 11 years and current public safety specialist with government technology venture capital firm, Govtech Ventures, in a phone interview with Raw Story.
The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police is already railing against police officers’ time-off cancellations for the Democratic National Convention next month, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
During the 2023 Republican debate in Milwaukee, the Transportation Security Administration, including the Chicago Flight Standards District Office and Chicago Federal Air Marshal Service Field Office, supported the law enforcement and security effort, according to an email from Matthew D. O’Neill-Levine, assistant federal security director, law enforcement, Wisconsin, for the TSA and Federal Air Marshal Service.
Lintonen said five platoons from the Major Incident Response Team, a specialized police unit that responds to emergencies typically during large-scale events, would be present the day of the debate to “provide the department a response to potential violence.”
Insalaco said all the effort that the Milwaukee Police Department and its partners put into preparing for the debate will be “much more intensive” for the Republican National Convention.
“You should probably see a lot of restrictions the days leading up to the RNC, obviously traffic restrictions,” Insalaco told Raw Story in a phone interview. “There's gonna be so many police agencies there. It's gonna be insanity.”
The Milwaukee Police Department declined a request to assist with providing off-duty police officers to work security for a private event for billionaire businessman Charles Koch’s conservative political advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, because officers wouldn’t be available to volunteer for the moonlight work given that PTO was canceled for the debate day, Lintonen said.
“I would say no, just because it’s a Bar,” said Branko Stoj, a police officer in planning and logistics for the Milwaukee Police Department. “They could hire security for that event.”
Workers prepare to install security fencing near the Fiserv Forum on July 10, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks, who play at Fiserv Forum, the host site for both the debate and convention, agreed to reimburse the Milwaukee Police Department up to $10,000 for 17 perimeter traffic posts, according to an email from Adam Stockwell, vice president of security for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Police Department sent a bill for $45,090.82 in police officer overtime for the month of August 2023 — with $17,206.80 charged the day of the debate — to Deer District LLC, which is the name of the entertainment district centered around the Milwaukee Bucks’ Fiserv Forum. The Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee Bucks did not confirm if the invoice was paid.
Stockwell did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Monitoring security threats
In the weeks leading up to the 2023 debate, the Wisconsin Fusion Center — a collaborative effort of local and state government entities, the Southeastern Wisconsin Threat Analysis Center and Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center, who analyze crime and threat intelligence — issued security threat reports similar to the one they sent about the Ryans, the bedazzled women from Iowa.
On the day of the debate, the Southeastern Wisconsin Threat Analysis Center began issuing internal situational awareness reports hourly. Raw Story obtained copies of the situation reports, but Milwaukee officials completely redacted the documents.
Leading up to the debate, the U.S. Capitol Police also shared intel with the Milwaukee Police Department about political groups and leaders expected to organize the day of the protests. The attachments were redacted.
On the morning of the 2023 debate, Phil Simmert, captain for the Milwaukee Police Department, requested that intel from the U.S. Capitol Police, context on protest leaders and details about a bomb threat the night before be included in a situation report, according to emails obtained by Raw Story.
Starting at 3 p.m. the day of the debate, government officials set up Homeland Security Information Network rooms with online passcodes for “executive staff participation for information and intelligence sharing regarding the RNC debate.”
This security nerve center serves a variety of functions, including scouring the internet for evidence of potential threats or plots by protestors, agitators and extremists.
“Everybody's basically pushing their intelligence to that,” Insalaco said. “They're scraping all these chats, Reddit, 4chan, and all these places all over the internet. They're looking for keywords about the RNC, and any kind of potential intelligence they get, whether it be credible or not, kind of goes into this network, so that everybody's working on the same common operating picture, so we don't miss anything.”
An Emergency Operations Center opened at 5 p.m. the day of the debate in the Police Administration Building, according to an email from Simmert.
Those intelligence reports often involved potential protestors, according to documents Raw Story obtained.
Preparing for protests
Two days before the Aug. 23, 2023, debate, Jeffrey Norman, chief of police for the Milwaukee Police Department, hosted a meeting with community leaders, activists, organizers and faith-based leaders to discuss safety at the event and working collaboratively with the community.
“The Milwaukee Police Department respects the rights of individuals to exercise their Constitutional Rights of Free Speech and we respect all opinions of the community that we serve,” wrote Heather Hecimovich Hough, chief of staff for the Milwaukee Police Department. “Please know we are not a political institution, but do have the task of ensuring community safety during the upcoming debate.
The Office of Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson suggested for the debate “dedicated space for organized speeches and demonstrations,” for which Timothy Leitzke, director of training and captain with the Milwaukee Police Department, suggested nearby Red Arrow Park and Pere Marquette Park, both less than half-a-mile from Fiserv Forum.
However, less than a week later, Todd Miller, staff assistant for the City of Milwaukee’s Mayor’s Office, said the Milwaukee Police Department did not have a designated “free speech zone,” according to an email obtained through a Wisconsin Open Records request to the City of Milwaukee.
Union demonstrators march outside of Fiserv Forum before the Republican presidential debate on August 23, 2023. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
By contrast, the Republican National Convention will have designated areas for protestors.
One site is on the north side of the convention area near Fiserv Forum, with a speaker’s platform at Haymarket Square. A second site on the south side near the Baird Center with a speaker's platform at Zeidler Union Square (also the start and end point for the parade route for demonstrators), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Pere Marquette Park will be off limits to demonstrators as a part of the “hard zone” that requires Secret Service credentials.
Marina Dimitrijevic, alderwoman for Milwaukee’s 14th District, inquired about the Milwaukee Police Department’s plans for protests at both the debate and Republican National Convention, emails show.
“I think the information should be public and accessible as many of my constituents are inquiring about it. Do these activities have to be permitted? Is there a [standard operating procedure] around this? I recall some challenges previously when there were George Floyd related protests etc. in the city,” Dimitrijevic wrote on Aug. 16, 2023, particularly noting that a Moms for Liberty event during the debate was moved around due to the group’s “controversial positions.”
Hough replied that she could not share “operational strategy,” but that the police were aware of protests. Protest organizers should be encouraged to request a permit, but “we don’t bring the hammer down on them if they don’t,” said James Washington, public works coordination manager for the City of Milwaukee, in an email.
“While MPD and the City planned permitted protest areas for the DNC and will do so for the RNC, this is different because for the conventions, there were multiple days, and we wanted to provide a platform for all individuals to have access to sight and sound of the representatives attending” Hough said in an email. “Here, this is a privately sponsored event that is scheduled to go for a couple hours, and there will not be the same closures as there would be for a full convention.”
The potential for disruption has some Milwaukeeans on edge.
The documents obtained by Raw Story indicate that numerous security personnel both for the government and Milwaukee businesses located near Fiserv Forum contacted Milwaukee Police about street closures and security assessments related to debate-related protests.
Ryan Smalkoski, a security supervisor for Associated Bank River Center, the building where the Republican National Committee occupied several floors ahead of the debate and throughout the convention, inquired about site assessments from the Secret Service.
Smalkoski specifically flagged a planned protest from the Wisconsin Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression the day of the Republican debate.
“We are aware of demonstrations set to occur during the debate and will have resources available to address incidents that are outside of the scope of constitutionally protected activities,” wrote Jocelyn Kalmanson, an officer with the Milwaukee Police Department’s Republican National Convention Planning Unit.
Julie Hallet, a security manager with WEC Energy Group, reached out via email to John Busch, federal security director at Transportation Security Administration, with questions about “preliminary reports” from the Department of Homeland Security about an expected demonstration with about 1,000 attendees.
Bob Kelley, a field intelligence directorate in Wisconsin for the Department of Homeland Security, said in an email there was “zero threat intel” and “nothing but constitutionally protected activity.”
Lauren Eagan, a senior adviser for the U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms, flagged the "Coalition to March on the RNC to the United States Capitol Police in an email on Aug. 18.
Adam Taylor, a sergeant with the United States Capitol Police, replied by email that the U.S. Capitol Police’s Dignitary Protection Division would conduct security detail for then-presidential candidate and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) at the debate. He requested an assessment for the rally.
The Milwaukee Police Department also tracked numerous planned protests, coordinating with the security teams for Fiserv Forum and the Wisconsin Center District.
For instance, Shannon Seymer-Tabaska, an inspector with the Milwaukee Police Department, flagged the “Milwaukee GOP Debate Worker Tailgate and Protest” organized by a union with 300 protesters anticipated, according to internal documents.
Union demonstrators march outside of the Fiserv Forum before the start of the first Republican presidential debate on August 23, 2023. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The morning of Aug. 23, 2023, Simmert shared intel from the U.S. Capitol police that said the “Coalition to March on the RNC” held a demonstration the night before “to target the Republican Party regarding anti-Trans hate groups.” The “peaceful” protest involved 15-20 protesters with signs and speakers outside of the Pfister Hotel.
“The march on the GOP Presidential Debate has been described as a family friendly protest by organizers; however, has the possibility of being a demonstration in which groups with opposing views could become confrontational,” the situation report email said.
George Simonson, a District One Day Shift sergeant with the Milwaukee Police Department, flagged in an email on Aug. 22, 2023, that Moms for Liberty, a conservative extremist group advocating against curricula that mentions race or sexuality, rented a hall in the Pfister Hotel less than a mile from Fiserv Form.
“As of now there is no planned protest but that could change as we know,” Simonson wrote, noting four police officers and himself who’d monitor the event.
Phil Simmert, captain for the Milwaukee Police Department’s Fusion Division, emailed about a planned protest, “GOP Presidential Debate: Fight Against the Republican Debate,” which had 161 people indicating their attendance with 976 expressing interest at the time.
Andrew Beckett, public information officer for the Wisconsin Emergency Management, flagged the same protest, which was referenced in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article from Aug. 18.
Jolene del Moral, watch officer for the Southeastern WI Threat Analysis Center, said via email response the center was not aware of any “credible threats” related to the planned protest.
“We base this on criminal activity, suspicious activity reporting and open-source analysis,” del Moral wrote.
‘Tremendous potential’ for violence: Arrest plans
The Milwaukee Police Department came up with a civil disturbance arrest plan for the debate and detailed how it’d handle different types of disturbances.
The document is decidedly applicable to next week’s Republican National Convention.
“As you can imagine, their (sic) is tremendous potential for demonstrations regarding the debates, and some of the demonstrations may become violent where making arrests is necessary. In the event of arrests Central Booking will need to have a plan on where to take them,” wrote Lintonen, the Milwaukee Police lieutenant, on July 14, 2023.
Police in riot gear line up on August 14, 2016. for a second night of protest after an officer-involved killing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Photo by Darren Hauck/Getty Images)
Police set up mobile detainee staging areas with different stations for suspected adult and juvenile offenders and separated by gender.
“I would add a line explicitly stating that misdemeanor arrests will then be fully booked and released with a future appearance,” Lintonen wrote on Aug. 18, 2023.
Further instructions required arresting officers to err on the side of accountability.
They were asked to complete yellow civil disturbance arrest cards with the officer name, the prisoner name, the date, time and location of the arrest, charges, and elements of the crime.
The officers were then to use their body cameras to document violation circumstances and show the arrest card in order to help with incident reports after the event.
A flow chart documented the process from arrest to conveyance and determining whether a “prisoner” would go to a district station, alternative site or mobile prisoner staging area.
Another chart outlined how law enforcement could respond to escalating levels of unrest from protesters, ranging from a nonviolent protest allowing police to only use verbal commands over a bullhorn to communicate with the crowd all the way up to the most severe case where an individual might be armed with “edged weapons” or a firearm, the only situation in which deadly force might be used.
When the 2023 Republican debate was all said and done, only one arrest was actually made the day of the debate, according to TMJ4 News in Milwaukee.
“MPD is pleased to report that the event occurred without incident,” said the Milwaukee Police Department in a statement immediately after the debate. “MPD publicly expresses our gratitude for the men and women of our Department, both civilian and sworn, who planned and worked to ensure community safety in our City.”
Canines to traffic control: Republican convention protocol
Some temporary road closures in Milwaukee for the Republican National Committee began as early as Thursday.
Henry Maier Festival Park will be closed Sunday for the convention’s “Red, White and Brew" delegate welcome party. More than a dozen downtown streets and highway exits will be closed beginning Sunday night and last through 1 p.m. Friday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Republican debate plans provide an additional preview into what closures and law enforcement planning might look like for the Republican National Convention.
A completely redacted 72-page “Final RNC Debate Plan” was labeled as “law enforcement sensitive” and shared around the Milwaukee Police Department in the days before the debate last summer.
But Lintonen, who noted the document as “law enforcement sensitive,” appeared to also share the document with his wife, Jill Lintonen, communications director and public information officer for the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, saying “I easily wrote half of this....just saying.”
Lintonen told Raw Story via email he was “not authorized” to answer related questions and directed inquiries to Efrain Cornejo, public information officer for the Milwaukee Police Department.
Cornejo told Raw Story via email the Milwaukee Police Department was looking into the request but unable to answer by Thursday.
Police planning also included the presence of K-9 units, with Scott Freiburger, lieutenant of police for the Milwaukee Police Department’s Specialized Patrol Division, making it clear that Milwaukee police would not be wantonly siccing police dogs on protestors — “if there is concern from anyone.”
“Patrol Canines and their Handlers will patrol in their squad cars and only deploy in a situation that would warrant a Patrol Canine response. They will not be used to walk through the crowds, act as crowd control, or deploy unless the incident fits the criteria set forth in the department’s rules and procedures regarding Patrol Canine deployment,” Freiburger wrote on Aug. 21.
The canines were also to be used for sweeps of the arena and parking garages, said Jeffrey Sunn, captain in the Milwaukee Police Department’s Specialized Patrol Division, on Aug. 21.
Four officers were on horse mounted patrol, escorts were provided for candidates from their hotels and the department tried to put off road closures as long as possible “due to bus routes and rush-hour traffic,” according to Sunn’s email.
Hard traffic closures went into effect at least three hours before the debate for at least five intersections with heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic, according to a traffic planning memo. Thirty one officers were expected to work on street corners, and two sergeants and 10 officers were assigned to escort delegates to Fiserv Forum, with the assistance of the Milwaukee County Sheriff Department and the Wisconsin State Patrol.
Maps of parking lots and the plaza were annotated to outline the entrances for media and candidates for the event, as well as logistics from bike racks to restroom trailers.
‘Sigh’: Disruptions from RNC events
Big-time political events have great benefits for a mid-sized city such as Milwaukee, ranging from local economic jolts to national attention.
But not all Milwaukeeans are thrilled. And sacrifices had to be made.
Internal documents indicated that the Milwaukee Police Department ended up rescheduling various community events and meetings because of the Aug. 23 debate and staffing issues.
National Night Out, a community policing awareness event, needed to be postponed by a week because of the debate.
Steve Stelter, police lieutenant with the Southeastern Wisconsin Threat Analysis Center, declined an offer to speak at the National Fusion Center Association’s central region meeting in Detroit because of the debate.
“We would like to come speak regarding the DNC but we unfortunately have to decline right now,” Stelter wrote on June 13. “As you may have seen, the first presidential debate is taking place in Milwaukee on August 22,23. We will be involved in the planning and deployment of resources for the debate.
Marquette University in Milwaukee split up its student move-in days over different days to work around road closures, according to an email from a police officer coordinating a trial appearance with an assistant district attorney from Milwaukee County.
Jeffrey Norman, chief of police for the Milwaukee Police Department, was asked to attend the graduation for the Nurturing Fathers Program at the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center the same day as the debate.
“Sigh, thanks for the heads up!” Norman replied to Marcey Patterson, community relations and engagement manager at Milwaukee Police Department, who told the chief about pushback to his potential inability to attend.
Brian J. White, fleet manager for the Milwaukee Police Department, requested via email that police vehicle maintenance in District One be moved up given its proximity to the debate.
“The first Presidential Debate is scheduled for August 23, basically across the street from D1. It might be a circus down here,” White wrote on July 6.
Stephen Colwell, police officer in the Milwaukee Police Department’s District Five Community Partnership Unit, ended up not attending an open house at a local Catholic school as he was called to work with the Major Incident Response Team “due to the expected protests.”
“Totally understand. Hopefully the crazies won't be out tonight,” said Daryl L. Collins, associate principal of Messmer Saint Mary Catholic School in Milwaukee.
Insalaco said the disruptions for the Republican National Convention will be even more pronounced.
“Low level traffic accidents that maybe the Milwaukee Police normally would respond to, they're going to have you self report, for sure. They're just not going to have the same amount of resources to commit to the community that they serve because they're going to be all hands on deck at the RNC,” Insalaco said.
Last month, officials from the Secret Service and local law enforcement“ held a press conference emphasizing efforts to minimize disruptions during the Republican National Convention, Milwaukee Business News reported.
“What I want to be clear about, there will be disruptions. There will be heavy traffic,” Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, said at the press conference. “We are trying to mitigate those as much as possible, and that’s why these crucial weeks leading up to the convention are so important to us.”
‘Do our best to not get beat up or killed’
The Iowa ladies, Heather and Kara Ryan, expect to be part of a small but mighty group of up to four protesters from “B------ Get Stuff Done” attending the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 18.
“I genuinely don't know what to expect. We're gonna do our best to not get beat up or killed,” said Heather Ryan, who said she last got arrested for trespass in 2011 at the Iowa State Capitol during the Occupy Wall Street movement. “Getting arrested doesn't matter to me. I will get arrested all day, every day, for a good cause, and I can't think of a better cause than stopping fascism in its tracks.”
No members of B------ Get Stuff Done have been arrested at their various protests which often include demonstrating on public property outside of local Iowa legislators' homes, Heather Ryan said.
Those demonstrations have become potentially dangerous with one legislator’s family member attempting to hit members of the group with a car and another stalking them in a car after an event, Kara Ryan, a medical support assistant at a Veterans Affairs hospital from Des Moines, Iowa, told Raw Story.
While protesting DeSantis’ campaign events in Iowa, security personnel knew the Ryans’ identities without them volunteering their names, which made Kara feel “flattered” but also “weirded out.”
The Ryans each got a “trespass citation” for their disturbance of DeSantis’ talk at the Iowa State Fair last year and are banned from returning for 18 months. Heather was tackled by law enforcement, and they were carried out of the crowd, Kara said.
“I don't think that I should be a threat, per se. I just plan on having my voice be heard,” Kara Ryan said. “I think that it's important that I speak for the millions of people that don't have a voice, that aren't able to express how they feel. I know that protesting for women's rights is really important right now. I have a daughter that's two years old, and everything I do is for her future.”
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