Judge: Charlotte does not have to reveal security purchases ahead of RNC
A Mecklenburg County Superior Court judge declined to order the city of Charlotte to release contracts related to the Republican National Convention, set to take place this month, according to the ACLU of North Carolina, which filed the legal challenge.
After Charlotte accepted the bid for the RNC, social justice groups — like SAFE Coalition NC — have asked city council members to require Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police to reveal what money from a $50 million federal grant would be spent on.
However, then-CMPD Police Chief Kerr Putney said that disclosing what equipment and technology was purchased would jeopardize the security of the event, and said the department would disclose the expenditures to the public after the convention, the Observer previously reported.
The ACLU said it filed the lawsuit in June after the city of Charlotte declined to turn over public records having to do with “federal grants, surveillance equipment and agreements with law enforcement agencies surrounding the RNC.”
“Today’s ruling is disappointing,” ACLU attorney Dan Siegel said in a news release. “North Carolinians deserve to know the types of crowd control, surveillance and munitions they may face if they choose to exercise their constitutionally protected rights of speech, assembly and expression while the Republican National Convention is taking place in their home state.”
A city spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Echos from the DNC
The decision comes years after Charlotte hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2012. At the time, officials attempted to keep nearly all security details secret prior to the convention, the Observer reported in 2012.
Information on the DNC security budget was revealed the next year. The Observer reported in 2016 that the city had purchased avionics equipment for police helicopters, new uniforms, riot gear and surveillance cameras positioned mostly around uptown.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Judge: Charlotte does not have to reveal security purchases ahead of RNC."
