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Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have more leeway to stop and search people uptown during the CIAA basketball tournament at the Time Warner Cable Arena this week.
The expanded police power comes from the city’s designation of the CIAA tournament as an “extraordinary event,” which prohibits people from carrying items such as hammers and chains – and even more mundane things like backpacks and coolers if police believe those containers to hold “noxious” substances.
Police chief Rodney Monroe advised the city in a Feb. 18 memorandum that police would need “significant public resources” to help provide a safe environment for an event that in years past had seen more than 100,000 attendees.
The Charlotte City Council approved the extraordinary event ordinance last year in preparation for the Democratic National Convention.
Police have been given extra power under the special designation at other city events last year, including the Speed Street festival, the Fourth of July celebration in uptown and for protests during Bank of America shareholder meetings.
The extraordinary event ordinance for the CIAA began Monday at 6 a.m. and will end Sunday at the same time.
The boundaries for the event form a square around uptown Charlotte starting at the intersection of West Stonewall and Church streets, going east to South Davidson Street, north to 9th Street, west to North Church Street and south back to Stonewall.
