Police presence is everywhere and you cannot see areas with delegates without heavily armed police. And, we see bike squads, horse troops, and SWAT teams. It's impressive and every one of them are polite, and wave back, and talk to people.
It is still an overwhelming demonstration of the culture of fear we have created in the past 7 years. I suspect we will never return to a time when they are not needed?
Getting in and out of venues is easy with the delegate badge. We have shorter lines for the convention center where we find the caucuses. At the Pepsi center for the convention itself, think "airport security". However, we have short lines for checking our bags and there is little wait. And, we are not required to remove our shoes!
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These guys waved back. And "guys' is a gender neutral term. |
Badged delegates were photographing these officers from the other side of the street and they seemed to enjoy the attention. And the streets have an aroma of horse! |
