It's time for the RNC, as security ramps up in St. Paul

After speaking with a local police office at the Excel Center last night, I realized the burden that the convention is on the city. Between the convention and the state fair, the officer I spoke to was putting in double shifts from 6am until 10pm. The fair will overlap with the convention on Monday which is the "great Minnesota Get-togethers'" last day.

While Denver slowly returns to normal, a complex of agents, officers and apparatus falls into place in the Twin Cities. The official story is below.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: August 29, 2008 - 11:37 PM

At a secret location, security officials will meet daily -- large video screens in front of them -- sharing surveillance data to be gathered during the Republican National Convention. ¶ Out in the streets, St. Paul police will field 3,500-plus officers -- a third of whom will make up mobile field force units dedicated to crowd control.

A mobile nuclear detection unit is at the ready, officials say, and the U.S. Coast Guard is set to deploy helicopters that can carry "ready assault forces" trained to drop from the sky to take on hostile threats, said Coast Guard spokesman Thomas Blue.

"They can move in quick and take care of business," he said.

As security operations go, Minnesota hasn't seen anything like it before.

The Secret Service, charged with designing and implementing the convention security plan, must be "prepared for the worst," spokesman Darrin Blackford said this week.

Critics, including the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, have accused authorities of exaggerating the possible threats.

In Denver, host of this week's Democratic National Convention, protesters also decried a "police state" after seeing officers in riot gear and atop rooftops.