Friday, January 04, 2008
One-mile lockdown talk again from the Denver media
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I have heard from four different individuals from the Denver Police Department, the Mayor’s Office and the DNCC stating that no solid plans have been put in place as to a security lockdown. Nevertheless another Denver media outline has thrown out the “one-mile lockdown radius” story.
The offender this time is 9 News:
Security officials with the DNC want to control traffic and may establish a one-mile lockdown radius around the Pepsi Center, making school bus traffic or parent pick-ups very difficult.
I’m going to try to find out where Channel 9 got this from. Again like the Rocky Mountain News article a major city-closing possibility is thrown out without a source.
This is from an e-mail I got from a Denver Police official yesterday:
At this time, there have been no final decisions regarding any road closures near, or around the Pepsi Center during the Democratic National Convention. Those discussions are on-going and are in the early phases of the planning process. Our intention is to minimize any disruptions to roadways, businesses, and residences. RTD has been heavily involved in DNC planning and will be an important component of the transportation system during the convention. A one mile lock down around the Pepsi Center has not been part of our discussions.
Update: According to Nelson Garcia, the reporter of the story, the one-mile lockdown was discussed between Denver Public School officials and DNCC security officials. Both the DPS spokesperson Alex Sanchez and the School Board President mentioned the possible lockdown.
Update 2: DPS Spokesman Alex Sanchez has told me he doesn’t know where the mile-wide radius lockdown story came from and that contrary to Nelson Garcia from 9 News he did not make any kind of statement about a mile-wide radius lockdown.
Hopefully no other news organizations rely on the mystery person talking about massive lockdowns.
Posted by Oreo at 8:27 PM 
One-mile lockdown talk again from the Denver media2008-01-04T20:27:00-05:00OreoPepsi Center|security|transportation|