Tulsa police officers part of GOP convention security team

About thirty Tulsa police officers, members of the Special Operations Team, have journeyed to Milwaukee to help provide security for the Republican National Convention.

TPD Capt. Mike Eckert is commander of Special Operations.

He tells KRMG it’s common for police departments around the country to seek help when a large event is scheduled.

“The local law enforcement entity doesn’t have enough bodies,” he said, so they’ll either invite specific agencies or send out a blanket invitation to departments seeking additional officers.

Most of the 30 or so Tulsa officers in Milwaukee are part of the Special Response Team, the officers typically known to the public as SWAT, Eckert told KRMG.

“We also sent a couple of officers that are part of our Incident Management Team,” he added. “Their responsibility is more administrative - record keeping, tracking assets, and things like that, while the Special Response Team members are actually going to be responsible for standing posts and having a security responsibility during the event.

He said the convention reimburses the officers for expenses, and provides accommodations as well.

While one might expect tensions to be extremely high for security personnel at the convention following the recent events at at Trump rally in Pennsylvania, Eckert said his team is well-trained and experienced.

“Self-pride mandates that we do the best job that we can,” Eckert said. “Just because of what happened on Saturday, I don’t think we’re going to try to do a better job. You know, the responsibility was there before Saturday’s event. The responsibility is still there, and the guys that we sent up there are going to do the most professional job that they can because Tulsa’s reputation is at stake on it, so they want to do what’s best for the team, and for the organization, and for the city.”

SPECIAL RESPONSE TEAM IN MILWAUKEE FOR REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION More than 25 Officers with the Tulsa Police...

Posted by Tulsa Police Department on Monday, July 15, 2024