Soon after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked for federal agents and U.S. Marshals to help combat the city’s wave of violence, about 50 Chicago police officers arrived in Charlotte to work perimeter security details for a week at the Democratic National Convention, ABC News reports. The Chicago officers, in their distinctive uniforms and checkerboard-brimmed hats, said they had been instructed not to talk with reporters about their assignment.
“These are officers on their days off and were specially trained as mobile field force officers for the recent NATO summit in Chicago,” said a Chicago police spokesperson Melissa Stratton. “I would love to know the logic behind that decision to send them there given all that is happening here in Chicago,” said the Rev. Ira Acree of the Greater St. John Bible Church in Chicago. “We had two homicides and dozens of shootings this weekend, and we’re sending offices out of the city?” said Pat Camden, a spokesperson for the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police. “I think the average person would shake his head over that.” The officers sent to Charlotte will be paid through a special federal grant of $50 million for convention security.