Pubdate: Sun, 20 Apr 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Kirk Mitchell
Page: 16A
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular)

"PRESIDENTIAL-STYLE SECURITY" KEEPS WATCH ON CIVIC CENTER

Beefy, black-clad security officers - donning bulletproof vests and 
perched on a scaffolding-peered across Civic Center park through 
military-style binoculars Saturday as crowds began to grow for the 
first day of Denver's 4/20 rally.

Teams of security officers performed "soft" body patdowns and 
backpack searches before allowing people through any of the several 
entry gates. An officer only half-jokingly said he was checking for 
guns, knives and high explosives.

The watch tower and patdowns are just a few of the enhanced security 
measures for this year's 4/20 event that were noticeably absent from 
the 2013 gathering, marred by the shooting of two people in the leg, 
as well as a stampede toward the stage. Also, a third person was 
grazed by a bullet in the shooting.

"It's presidential-style security," chief organizer Miguel Lopez 
boasted about this weekend.

He was more sheepish when he spoke of last year's security breaches, 
when a crowd tumbled through a barricade and trampled one another 
while ascending the stage.

This year, Lopez hired three security companies to patrol the two-day 
event. Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon, who is running for governor as an 
independent, also hired a captain and a lieutenant from his 
department to help. He paid for it himself. One of the security teams 
had 40 security guards carrying guns and handcuffs.

"We're armed and everything," said Jesse Pena, owner of Special Agent 
Security Service. "If we see a crime happen, we do an arrest and then 
just get a police officer."

Police issued citations to a couple of the private security guards 
for lacking the appropriate license, said Denver police spokesman 
Sonny Jackson.

Part of the reason for enhanced security are projections that because 
of legal marijuana, the crowds of people from across the country are 
likely to at least double last year's numbers. Lopez was expecting 
80,000 visitors Sunday.

The Denver Police Department - which said it had cited or arrested 25 
people, 17 for public marijuana smoking, on Saturday-invited state 
and federal law enforcement officers to tour its command center at 
police headquarters a block away. The communications center has about 
50 TV screens that can flip back and forth to 138 HALO and 38 traffic cameras.

Pat Phelan, commander of the department's special-operations unit, 
said the cameras will ensure rapid deployment of a beefed-up downtown 
police presence Saturday and Sunday.

"We don't expect to see a problem, but we're prepared if there is," 
Cmdr. Matt Murray said Saturday.

Avid marijuana inhaler Guy Orvis, 62, of Denver, who rode to the 
festival in a wheelchair rigged out like a lounge chair, said the 
extra security makes a lot of sense.

"It puts everybody on notice to keep it on the down low. I'm not 
about violence or anything," he said.

He denied that the smoke - with a particular scent - pumping out of a 
cannister at the back of his wheelchair was cannabis-infused. But a 
small crowd of people followed him around the park sniffing deeply and giggling.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom