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Your assignment must answer the questions poised at the end of
the scenario and written in APA format using a 12-point font.
CRJ 550
Legal Issues in Criminal Justice Administration
DRNC Scenario
B
ackground
The following story is a fictional account of
planning and preparation
leading up to the mythical Democratic-Republican National
Convention
(DRNC)
event in Miami, Florida.
The story is loosely based on an amalgamation of real life
occurrences in the lead up to the Free Trade Area of the
Americas
(FTAA) C
onference in Miami, Florida in 2003.
The names of all the characters in the story are fictional.
As you read the story, keep in mind what ethical and legal
issues are likely to arise.
At the end of the story, you will be asked to respond to several
questions related to
this scenario.
For the DRNC event, Miami-Dade has formed a Host
Committee,
similar to the model used for
the Super Bowl Host Committees of the past.

The Host Committee is a small group of 15 appointed personnel
from various county and municipal agencies, as well as the
private sector.
Miami-Dade Police Department Director Melanie Duncan is one
of the committee members.
The Host Committee is chaired by Mr. Horace Copeland, a long-
time assistant to the County Manager, Miguel Herrera.
The purpose of the Host Committee is to plan for the overall
event.
As such, they are responsible for recommending policy, but not
for enacting policy.
The enactment of policy remains the ultimate responsibility of
the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).
The Democratic-Republican National Party (DRNP) has
designated Ms. Cassandra Armand as its chair of the DRNC’s
Committee on Arrangements (COA).
The COA is the main organizer from the DRNP for this event.
Ms. Armand and Mr. Copeland from the Host Committee work
hand-in-hand to plan this event and their recommendations to
the BOCC carry considerable weight for policy formulation.
Miami-Dade Police has been designated as the
lead local agency
and lead operational planner for the event security.
This policy differs significantly from the 2003 FTAA in which
the City of Miami was designated as the lead local agency.
Since this event meets the criteria of a National Special
Security Event (NSSE), the U.S. Secret Service has been
designated as the
lead coordinating agency
with overarching statutory authority for the planning and
execution of the event.
Supervisory Special Agent Samantha Salerno has been
appointed as
the lead agent in-charge for the event
.
So far a few major planning decisions have been made.

The American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami has been
selected as the location for the main event of the convention.
Because of its proximity to the entrance to the Port of Miami,
the selection of this arena poses some challenges regarding the
balance between buffer zone security and the normal, day-to-
day business of the Port, which includes cargo traffic, as well as
cruise ship passenger traffic.
Moreover, the local merchants of the adjacent stores in the
Bayside Marketplace will also be affected by the week-long
event.
The high likelihood of protestors demonstrating at the event
adds another significant factor to the policy planning process.
Organization charts of the Host Committee and the Security
Subcommittee are provided for your reference.
Case Study –
Meeting of the DRNC Host Committee’s Security Subcommittee
The
DRNC
was only two months away and the pace of the planning
activities leading up to it had increased noticeably.
The Security Subcommittee chaired by Assistant Special Agent
in-Charge (ASAC) Samantha Salerno, had been meeting on a
monthly basis for the past nine months, but was now going to
start meeting every two weeks as the start of the event was
getting closer.
This day’s meeting was being held at the Miami-Dade Police
Department
h
eadquarters
b
uilding and was hosted by committee member Melanie Duncan,
the Director of the MDPD.
ASAC Salerno was out of town for a meeting and was unable to

attend.
The meeting started promptly at 9 a.m. with a welcome from
Director Duncan.
None of the perfunctory introductions were necessary since
most of the attendees present knew each other from the previous
subcommittee meetings.
However, this time Major Louis Warren brought two of his Task
Force and Mobile Field Force Commanders with him, who had
not attended this particular group’s meetings before.
Warren introduced Captain Earl Bishop (Commander of Task
Force 5) and Lieutenant Fred Hayes (Commander of “Juliet”
Mobile Field Force).
The first order of business had to do with the subcommittee’s
consideration to the granting of permits
regarding
several different requests for rallies and parades
in the proximity of the DRNC main venues
.
At the subcommittee’s previous meeting two weeks ago, the
organization Root Cause had been granted a permit for a parade
route through Downtown Miami on the third day of the DRNC
event.
That parade permit had been granted after considerable
discussion and compromise between the parade organizers and
City of Miami and Miami-Dade County officials.
The agreed upon parade route would not come any nearer than
two city blocks to either the American Airlines Arena (the main
venue of the convention) or the Intercontinental Hotel (where
many of the delegates and their families would be staying).
In addition to that planned parade, the Security Subcommittee
had also agreed to issue a permit for a rally by the AFL-CIO
and the Teamsters
trade unions
at the nearby Bayfront Park Amphi
theater on that same day.
There were two other permit requests pending the

Subcommittee’s review and recommendation.
One was by the organization Amnesty International to stage a
protest at the Torch of Friendship in front of the Bayfront Park
Amphitheater, also on the third day of the event.
Lastly, the organization Greenpeace had issued a statement of
intent, but had not officially filed for
a
permit to conduct a protest at the Bayside Shopping
M
all, adjacent to the Amphitheater.
Major Warren turned to Captain Bishop and asked him for his
opinion on the possible Greenpeace protest at Bayside.
Bishop said, “I would strongly recommend that no permit be
issued to Greenpeace if it is requested, and that they not be
allowed to protest at Bayside.
A protest of any type… by any group at Bayside would be way
too close to the arena (American Airlines Arena) and could spill
over onto the roadway that leads into the Port of Miami.
That would lead to a major congestion at a critical choke point,
and would in effect close down the Port.”
Major Warren chimed in, “I agree with Earl… I think it would
be a huge mistake to let this group so close to the main venue
and to a critical infrastructure site such as the Port of Miami.
We need to make sure that we keep that bottleneck open the
entire week of the convention.”
Captain Bishop added, “not only
that Major
… but at the Amphitheater for the AFL-CIO/Teamsters rally,
we’ll be able to restrict backpacks from coming into the
venue… but we won’t be able to do that at Bayside.
It’s public shopping area, and legally we would have some
problems with pat-down searches
of backpacks
.
The
protestors

could sneak in
all kinds of tools and weapons that can be used against us.
We
would be almost powerless to stop them.
I strongly recommend that we do not issue any permits to
demonstrate at Bayside for this and other reasons.”
“Louis, where have you designated the ‘First Amendment
Zones’?” asked Director Duncan.
Major Warren responded, “
the
main First Amendment Zone is located just north of the arena,
at Bicentennial Park.
That’s the ideal place for it because it’s close to the main
venue… it’s within line-of-sight… while at the same time,
there’s a natural 200 foot wide cut-in harbor that provides a
buffer of deep water in between the protestors and the delegates
inside the Arena.
We’ll have our Marine Patrol Unit and the Coast Guard sitting
in between to make sure nobody tries to swim across.
It’s perfect.”
Warren continued, “
the
second First Amendment Zone is in front of the Torch of
Friendship… where Amnesty International plans to protest.
That’s where they intended to be back in 2003 for the FTAA,
but if I recall correctly, only one guy showed up, and he kind of
got swept up into the bigger crows that day.”
“OK, than
k
you
both
.
That sounds like a plan.
I’ll take your recommendation
s
to the full committee next week.

Now, the next order of business has to do with several proposed
expenditures,” said Director
Duncan.
Louis, I understand that you have a report for us?”
“Yes… I’ll let Lieutenant Hayes speak to that. He’s been
overseeing our logistics and supply efforts.
Go ahead Fred… you’ve got the floor.”
Lieutenant Hayes reported, “right now we’re in pretty good
shape.
We still have a lot of our CUT team tools left over from the
FTAA in 2003, so we really don’t need to purchase any new
items in that regard.
That will save us over $70,000… so that’s the good news.”
“How are we on Pepperball and other less-lethal munitions?”
asked Major Warren.
Hayes continued, “we’re good with Pepperball and OC spray…
as you know, neither us nor the City are using SuperSock
anymore… ever since that guy lost his eye during the FTAA.
We’re all set with munitions,
ballistic
helmets, shields, and fire-retardant uniforms.
The only new expense that we’re recommending right now it the
purchase of two LRADs…
Long Range Acoustic Devices.”
Warren interrupted, “Fred, why don’t you briefly explain what
an LRAD is, and how we plan to use it for the DRNC?”
Hayes went on, “The Long Range Acoustic Device is basically a
sound magnifier.
Some of you in this room may recall that we had two on loan
during the FTAA in 2003, but we never used them…
unfortunately.
I say unfortunately because we could have avoided a lot of
criticism from the
ACLU, the
Independent Review Panel Report
,

and others had we been able to transmit our dispersal orders
loud and clear to the protestors.
Had the LRAD representative not gone home a day early and
taken his two machines with him, we probably could have
avoided a couple of lawsuits too.
One of the biggest criticisms that we faced after the FTAA was
that no one in the crowd heard the dispersal order broadcast by
the on-scene captain from a standard megaphone.”
Director Robert Waters from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
Department (MDFRD), who was also present at the
subcommittee meeting interrupted, “I thought the LRADs were
a pain compliance tool.
Aren’t they supposed to cause pain and discomfort to the
protestors in order to get them to disperse?
I heard that NYPD had used them to disperse some of the
Occupy Wall Street protestors
… and that there were some complaints of hearing loss.
”
“Yes sir,” answered Lieutenant Hayes.
“When set at a very high setting, the LRAD can cause
considerable pain and discomfort to anyone standing within its
cone of sound… It is a dual use tool… it can be used like a
super clear and powerful megaphone to project orders and
instructions, but it can also be used as a pain compliance tool to
encourage protestors to disperse.”
“So you’re saying this LRAD thing is both a megaphone and a
less-than-lethal weapon?” asked Director Waters.
Hayes responded, “yes, in a way it is, but the company that sells
them does not consider them to be a less-lethal weapon… it
doesn’t rise to that level… at least according to them.”
“Maybe so…” counter
ed Director Waters,
“
b
ut I’m concerned that in fixing one problem, we may be creating
another one.

I’m concerned about lawsuits from protestors claiming that the
LRADs caused harm to their hearing… or even
harm to
our own officers for that matter.
How can we make sure that the sound waves projected by the
LRADs don’t hurt peoples’ hearing… protestors or frontline
officers alike?”
“Rob, you bring up some good questions,” Director Duncan
interjected.
“I think we need some more information on these LRADs before
we can commit to buying two of them as Major Warren has
recommended.
I think we need to table this discussion for now until we
research this more extensively.”
“Director…” Major Warren broke in.
“We only have a couple of months, and we’ll need to move fast
on this decision.
You know how slow the County procurement process can be…
Besides, we’ll need a few weeks to take it out and field test it,
and then train a few field force officers on how to use them.”
Director Duncan replied, “
well
then Major… it sounds like you and your staff have a lot of
work to do in a short period of time.
Don’t worry about the procurement process…. Leave that up to
me.
If we decide to follow your recommendation for the purchase of
two LRADs, we’ll get it done… but I need to know sooner,
rather than later.”
“Yes
ma’am
… we’ll report to you our findings before the next meeting two
weeks from now” replied Major Warren.
Shortly thereafter, the meeting concluded.
The next meeting of the Security Subcommittee is scheduled for
the same time, two weeks from this date.

Assignment Instructions
Consider the following questions associated with this story.
You are to write an essay not to exceed 1,500 words
that analyzes the
legal and ethical
ramifications of this
case
.
Identify and analyze potential legal claims of a private citizen
seriously injured by the use of the LRAD's if the decision is
made by the Sub-Committee to purchase them after relying
solely on the manufacturer's claims and instructions as to their
use. Assume there was insufficient time to test the device and
train officers in their use before the Convention. Assume that
the Sub-Committee concluded that the value of the LRAD's use
in crowd control outweighed any risk of harm caused by their
use.
Discuss the potential liability of the individual officer using the
device, the potential liability of the officer's supervisor (in this
case, Duncan) and the potential liability of Chairperson
Selerno
.
Finally, what is your recommendation to Chairperson Salerno
regarding this issue?
Identify and analyze any legal claims that might be triggered if
the Sub-Committee decides to deny permission to Amnesty
International to stage a protest at the Torch of Friendship which
has been identified as the second First Amendment Zone. As a
result of your analysis, what recommendation(s) would you
make to Chairperson Salerno regarding the request?
Identify and analyze any legal claims that might arise if the

Committee grants a permit to Greenpeace to conduct a protest at
the shopping mall. If the permit is granted, can police lawfully
conduct pat-downs and search bags of anyone in the area?
Present the arguments for and against.
As a result of your analysis, what recommendation(s) would you
make to Chairperson Salerno regarding this permit request?
Resources:
PowerPoint Org
anizational
Charts for the DRNC Host Committee and Subcommittees
found in DocSharing
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