2024 DNC: How Chicago police, federal agencies work to protect residents, delegates and protesters

CHICAGO (WLS) -- DNC or not, Chicago police are in charge of protecting residents, protesters, property, businesses and neighborhoods.

There will be some backup from departments outside Chicago, including Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention was held, but law enforcement officials told the I-Team there are not many outside police, and that CPD is on 12-hour shifts to cover the Democratic National Convention and regular community beats.

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The U.S. Secret Service is in charge of securing convention venues, delegates, party officials and candidates, employing hundreds of federal officers from specialized teams at other agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' bomb-detecting canine units and explosives technicians on standby.

"We're bringing in 10 canines to the DNC, and their job for this event is to search for unattended baggage that somebody may have left behind or and or there's a suspicious package," said ATF-Chicago Special Agent K-9 Handler Kurt Bentley.

The DNC in Chicago is a National Special Security Event. That designation alone means the government believes it to potential target for terrorism or other criminal activity.

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"Anyone going in into, you know, the inner perimeter of the event will be screened by Department of Defense Canines," said ATF-Chicago Special Agent K-9 Handler Dan Durkin.

On Sunday night, the "whole of government" approach to this week's convention is apparent.

"We have hand tools and all the other tools that we need to take stuff apart or something up. We can process a scene. We can collect evidence," said ATF-Chicago Special Agent Explosives Anthony Zito.

At the United Center, buses and other vehicles are screened by federal dog teams.

"The ability to trigger things is constantly changing. So, that becomes a sort of an increasing threat. And we try to stay on top of that sort of technology," said ATF-Chicago Special Agent Explosives Stewart Graham.

When asked whether Hollywood does a good job of portraying what agents do when they find an explosive device, ATF-Chicago Special Agent Bomb Technician John Richardson said, "If you have to clip a wire, it's a really bad day."

The United Center security measures are mirrored by those at McCormick Place, where DNC meetings will be held.

And, U.S. Coast Guard teams patrol the lake.

The Secret Service oversees all of it. The service has been under a microscope since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last month.

"The Secret Service is a no-fail mission. So, we're always at the at the highest levels of security. But to say, 'But we're changing anything for the DNC;' that's not accurate. This is a whole of government approach, and they've been planning the security since April of 2023," said Derek Mayer with the Secret Service.

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On Sunday night, CPD Supt. Larry Snelling giving a thumbs-up to his sizable bike patrol assigned to the first major protest of the DNC.

This operation offered a glimpse of what the police strategy is likely to be for keeping order at the permitted protests: Flood the protest route with should-to-shoulder patrol officers and bike units, protect property on both sides of downtown streets, and roll out columns of city Streets and San snow plows as back-up for traffic and crowd control.

No riot gear was in sight on this Sunday, although as with all crowd events, police assets are not always visible.

"We want people to exercise their First Amendment rights. We will protect them while they're doing it, but we will not guarantee someone that we're not going to make arrests if they start to act violently or commit crimes," Snelling said.

Beyond all the regular law enforcement, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said 250 Illinois National Guard military police are at the ready.

"They are really on stand-by, they are at the perimeter. Nobody expects that we'll have to use them for anything very serious. We also want to make sure we have an additional law-enforcement type folks who are in uniform and who are trained to be police available. We're just trying to cover all the bases and make sure we're doing all the right things," Pritzker said.

The last time the National Guard was activated was during the post-George Floyd murder disturbances. They did then what they would do if activated during the DNC: manage street closures and traffic flows-to free up Chicago police.

A few businesses in downtown Chicago are sporting plywood facades on Sunday night as their own apparent insurance against vandals and possible looters.

But most retail and business outlets on Michigan Avenue have not boarded up on Sunday night, but are receiving an extraordinary protection by Chicago police. Officers lined both sides of Michigan Avenue before, during and after the first DNC protest.