Tampa police: Crime rate drops during RNC

Tampa - On the third day of the Republican National Convention, the crime rate in Tampa is actually down, with a total of three protesters arrested and only one during a demonstration.

According to the Tampa Police Department, crime is down all over the city, and TPD thinks it knows why, according to a Tampa Bay Times report. "The City of Tampa is the safest place to be right now in the entire United States," said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. On average, arrests in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties dropped “significantly” this week compared to weeks leading up to the convention, law enforcement officials said. For example, Monday, about 100 fewer arrests occurred than the previous Monday. Police also say there haven't been as many calls to 911 since the Republicans came to town. "It's not just arrests," said Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon. "It's everything." Maybe we're just scaring the criminals away," McKinnon said. Typically, about 250 of Tampa’s 500-officer force patrols on any given day, McElroy said. But for the RNC, about 4,000 la enforcement officers are on duty including all local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that are dispatched. McElroy said the extra police presence allowed the department to conduct normal patrols in the city while maintaining a large police presence downtown and surrounding the Tampa Bay Times forum, where Republicans are holding their nomination event. McElroy described downtown as being “calm.”