North Texas police assist with safety, security at RNC

NORTH TEXAS — Police from Dallas and Fort Worth are joining other law-enforcement agencies from across the country to help with safety and security at the Republican National Convention this week.

The convention in Milwaukee is expected to draw around 50,000 attendees. Keeping that many people safe, especially given the recent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump , takes a lot of planning and effort.

"This was something that was just tragic and it shouldn't have happened," Fort Worth Police Department spokesman Tracy Carter said.

"Despite the events that happened this past weekend, we were already sending officers to Milwaukee to aid in the Republican National Convention," he said. "They're going to get up there, they're going to brief, they're going to do their jobs to the best of their knowledge."

Earlier this year, Congress approved $75 million in federal security grant monies for the convention.

Fort Worth will be reimbursed just over $220,000 for salaries overtime and travel expenses for 50 officers.

"What they're doing is just officer support and they go through training every year," Carter said. "The ones that went, they've gone to other conventions, they've gone to inaugurations, so this is not something that is new to us."

Fort Worth police say 19 officers from the Direct Response Unit and 31 officers from the Central Bike Unit will be assisting through next Saturday.