Face The State Staff Report
After four weeks and three formal requests by Face The State to receive an answer, the Denver Police Department has announced that taxpayers were charged $11,307.28 in overtime compensation related to President-elect Barack Obama's Oct. 26 rally in Civic Center Park.
Media estimates concluded that 100,000 supporters attended the Obama rally, with masses of people spilling on to Broadway and the west steps of the Capitol. The Obama campaign paid for security barriers, standard event fees and damage deposits, but the city paid for for police overtime costs. According to DPD spokesman Sonny Jackson, the department will not divulge how many total officers worked the event due to security concerns.
Jackson also said no presidential candidates pay for their visits. "We provide the security as part of our responsibility when the president or any other dignitary comes to town," he said. "It's part of our federal funding."
DPD Records Coordinator Mary Dulacki said most of the security for the event was provided by on-duty officers, and that while the department keeps track of overtime, it is not always separated out by event, so extra resources were needed to calculate the cost of overtime relating to the Obama rally.