Convention benefit: $12.5M in equipment for safety forces
Cleveland using bicycles, motor vehicles, software.
The convention put Cleveland in the national spotlight for several days, during which the city garnered praise for how it handled the event.
A lasting benefit CLEVELAND — for Cleveland for hosting the 2016 Republican National Convention is that the city got to keep more than $12 million in equipment and gear for safety forces that was paid for by the federal government.
The purchases were covered under a grant from the federal Justice Department that covered $41.6 million in costs associated with providing security for the convention, city officials said at a Wednesday news conference.
“The things that are left over, we’re utilizing them very well,” Mayor Frank Jackson said Wednesday. Among the purchases:
■ 300 bicycles and related gear for the bikes and riders at a cost of about $2,500 per bike.
■ Five motorcycles for the police department.
■ Seven mini ambulances for the department of emergency medical services
■ Light trucks and other vehicles used by fire department command staff, the fire prevention officers and the training academy
■ Cardiac monitors for EMS crews.
■ Protective suits and decontamination units for hazardous-material teams
■ Rehab equipment to help firefighters cool off at fire scenes before returning to action.
■ Four large vans for the police department, one of which was converted into an ice cream truck that handed out frozen treats over the summer as part of a police outreach program.
■ A video wall in the city’s emergency operations center for use in managing crises.
■ A tracking-software system that allows the city to keep tabs on all equipment and resources in its safety forces, including when equipment needs maintenance or needs to be replaced.
The bicycles, which police used throughout the convention both for transportation and as part of crowd control, “by far were one of the most significant things purchased,” Johnny Johnson, commander of the community policing bureau, said Wednesday.
Bicycle patrols by police officers were a casualty of police layoffs several years ago. The grant for convention security provided a means to bring those patrols back.
The convention, held in July 2016, put Cleveland in the national spotlight for several days, during which the city garnered praise for how it handled the event.
Jackson said the city benefited in many ways.
“Not just in terms of reputation,” the mayor said. “There’s the economic benefit, the exposure — the positive exposure we got - and the equipment.”
This week, the federal government released its audit of the grant that the city was awarded to pay for security. Cleveland scored high marks for its administration of the grant — which allowed for spending of up to $49.9 million.
Jackson noted that initially the federal government wanted the city to spend $2.5 million to hire a consultant to manage the grant spending.
“I had to go to Washington, D.C., to have a conversation with the Department of Justice,” Jackson said, to convince federal officials the city could handle managing the grant with its own staff “because it’s what we do.”
Following the audit, Jackson said, that “has been proven to be so.”