A look at convention security in Denver

Denver — by the numbers:

_The Pepsi Center seats 20,000 in the enclosed arena; Invesco Field seats 76,000 in the open-air stadium.

_900 extra police, including 300 from neighboring Aurora. Colorado law was changed this year to allow out-of-state officers to come to Colorado cities.

_Police purchased 88 new pepper guns for the convention

_About 2,900 Army and Air guardsmen will help secure facilities and be ready to respond to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents. This includes two 500-man team with bio-suits, in case there's a report about suspicious powder, for instance. Thousands of other guardsmen are available if necessary.

_About 100 Transportation Security Officers (airport screeners) will help the Secret Service with screening. In addition, special TSA strike teams comprised of air marshals, transportation security inspectors and officers, behavior detection officers and bomb-sniffing dogs, will conduct security sweeps before and during the convention.

_The Secret Service established 17 working groups for each convention that include officials from other federal, state and local agencies. The groups include air security, counterterrorism, public affairs, credentialing, crisis management and consequence management.

Denver — who is doing what:

_The Secret Service will conduct an eight-hour sweep of Invesco field starting at midnight Wednesday.

_The Federal Aviation Administration has restricted area airspace around Denver and designated that space "National Defense Airspace."

_Two main thoroughfares — Speer Boulevard and Auraria Street Parkway — will be closed during the convention.

_Alternate routes have been designated for trucks and trains carrying hazardous material so that they pose no danger to the candidates and convention sites.

_Special gamma-imaging machines used to screen cargo at ports will be at the convention to inspect vehicles and packages 24 hours before the event starts.

_Customs and Border Protection will help in securing airspace around the convention sites.

_Analysts from Homeland Security's Intelligence directorate will be working out of Colorado's fusion center.

_The National Nuclear Security Administration will do a sweep of the venues for nuclear material, and undercover officials will walk around during the conventions with radiation detection equipment.

_Biggest security concern: "We do have quite a bit of intelligence, information on anarchist groups, on protesters who are intent on coming here to disrupt the convention with other than legal means," said Jim Davis, FBI's special agent in charge in Denver.

___

On The Net:

http://www.demconvention.com