The Gainesville City Commission will vote today to approve a mutual aid agreement with the City of Tampa to send law enforcement officers to the Republican National Convention.
If approved, the city will send two Gainesville Police mounted units, which consists of two horses and riders, to provide security for the convention in August, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.
Alachua County Sheriff Spokesman Art Forgey said the Alachua Sheriff’s Office will send its own patrol and specialty units.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the Tampa Police Department Mounted Patrol Unit asked GPD earlier this year to provide security.
According to the agreement, about 70 other police agencies across the state, including Orlando Police Department, Florida Highway Patrol and Broward County Sheriff’s Office, will help with crowd control.
“It is a great honor to have our talents noticed by another agency, and for them to contact and ask us to participate,” Tobias said.
In April, the GPD’s mounted unit traveled to Tampa for evaluation on its crowd control techniques, Tobias said.
He added that GPD’s officers are trained on defensive tactics unique to the horses, which include making arrests from the saddle and preventing people from grabbing the reins.
With each unit standing 10 feet tall, officers have a vantage point over crowds, Tobias said.One mounted unit is equivalent to about 10 officers on foot when controlling crowds.
According to the agreement, the city is anticipating about 15,000 people to attend the convention, which poses risks for mounted units and officers on foot.
Because the convention is considered to be a “National Special Security Event,” according to the agreement, the United States Department of Justice gave the city of Tampa about $49,850,000 in a federal grant.
The money will be used to pay for the convention venue, equipment, supplies and for all personnel working at the convention.
Tobias, a former three-year mounted unit rider, said the opportunity for the GPD mounted unit to travel to Tampa is “priceless.”
“Many of GPD’s own residents aren’t aware that we have a mounted unit,” he said. “So for us to be invited to Tampa to work an event of this magnitude is incredible.”
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
