Thousands of officers headed to Charlotte for DNC, Chief Monroe reveals | News

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- Police officers will converge on the Queen City by the thousands, WBTV has learned exclusively from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe.

Monroe told WBTV's Brigida Mack they've finalized that plan and will bring a network of officers Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin and as far west as Colorado and Texas.

"I remember when I was in [Washington] D.C., you handled everything yourself," Chief Monroe recalled. "But as events grew and concerns grew after 9-11, there was a pretty good network that was formed."

But the concentration of police in uptown doesn't mean the rest of the city won't be protected.

There is a plan for that as well, Monroe revealed.

"We call it our Zone Defense Plan," he said. "Everybody is going to 12 hour shift so we're not changing shifts as often."

By dividing the city into several zones, they can ensure there will be plenty of police in every community.

In fact, Monroe said you'll probably see even more officers in your neighborhood than normal. Something he says sends a strong message to would-be criminals.

"This would be the worst time to for anyone to think about doing something along the criminal lines," he said. "You may think they're walking up or in an area that's not being watched but it's pretty good chance it would be."

Chief Monroe also told WBTV this will be all hands on deck for the department, adding they have activated they're entire reserve corp, including retired officers.

He also said no officers will working off-duty jobs the week of the DNC and they have also called its civilian employees to help out in support positions.

CMPD also plans to send officers to Gaston and Cabarrus counties where DNC-related events are scheduled to take place there as well.

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