BELLEVUE — Eleven Brown County Sheriff's Office personnel traveled to Milwaukee to assist with security at last week's Republican National Convention.
- The deputies stayed at Wisconsin Lutheran College throughout the trip, and assisted with foot patrol
- A lieutenant says the group developed relationships and compared tactics with other visiting agencies
- He says visiting units were stationed as far as 20 miles from the convention's security perimeter
- He also praised the Milwaukee Police Department for coordinating the thousands of visiting officers
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
We're at the Brown County Sheriff's Office, where deputies are now back after spending time helping out during the RNC in Milwaukee. Here's what they learned that will help them for next year's NFL Draft.
Lieutenant Kevin Pawlak was one of eleven Brown County Sheriff's Office representatives at the RNC, and one of thousands of law enforcement officers from 26 states that helped in Milwaukee.
He says the assassination attempt of former President Trump may have lessened protesting at the convention.
"What was anticipated and what actually occurred was less significant," Pawlak said, "so I don't know if [the assassination attempt] had something to do with it, but either way, it was relatively mild."
The Brown County team worked as foot patrol in Milwaukee, and Pawlak says they learned a lot about coordinating an event with dozens of outside agencies — drawing a comparison to next year's NFL Draft.
"Other than, perhaps, maybe not so many out-of-state police, but I think it's comparable in volume of people," Pawlak said. "[The Draft is] certainly the largest event in Brown County history, so in that regard it's a bigger deal, but some of the dynamics are not the same as a political event."
In addition to the Draft, Pawlak says the Sheriff's Office anticipates the two presidential candidates or their running mates will make several more visits to the area in the months leading to the election.
