Hillsborough Deputies on Duty at RNC in Tampa

Every quarter the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office holds an awards ceremony in recognition of “distinguished performance” on the job. This quarter’s ceremony might very well give a toast to the deputies involved in keeping the streets safe for the 2012 Republican National Convention attendees.

To help residents stay up-to-date on the RNC and the sheriff’s office throughout the week, sheriff's office communications personnel will post tweets on Twitter, post status updates on Facebook (such as this one) and post videos on YouTube, including one on bike and mounted units patrolling the RNC.

Sheriff David Gee in a letter earlier this month addressed RNC concerns in a letter to the public.

“The RNC demands thousands of law enforcement officers to converge on downtown Tampa for a 24-hour-a-day presence,” Gee said, noting the combined effort of deputies, police officers, state troopers and federal and state agents. "Some will be assigned special security details. Some will be responsible for getting the scores of buses and vehicles with delegates and VIPs to and from the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Some will be on the street. Some won’t be seen but poised to respond quickly and appropriately to a security situation."

Gee noted, too, that the most visible aspect of the security plan will be the “boots on the ground,” noting the "consistency in garb” and "hundreds of law enforcement officers on bicycles” and "others on horseback."

The video posted by the sheriff’s office, and reposted here, gives testament to that assertion.

How do you think local law enforcement is doing now that the RNC is here? Let us know in the comments section.