CINCINNATI—A leader of the state’s special board on community-police relations said Friday she’s increasingly concerned about safety at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
“I’m nervous as hell,” said Nina Turner, a former Democratic state senator from Cleveland who co-chairs the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, an initiative of Republican Gov. John Kasich.
She said the issue was already personally worrisome for her because her son is a law enforcement officer who will be on duty and the convention is coming to “my backyard.”
There now is added worry after a sniper attack killed five Dallas police officers Thursday night during a protest over fatal police shootings of black men this week in Louisiana and Minnesota. And some law enforcement agencies have rescinded offers to send officers to help at the convention.
Turner said the convention “was going to be a powder keg all along.”
“This just puts more gasoline and dynamite and the match on top of all of that,” she said.
The July 18-21 convention, featuring Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, already was expected to attract large groups of protesters, including supporters and opponents of Trump and advocates for other causes.
