(The following story by Paige Ingram appeared on the Littleton Independent website on August 21.)
LITTLETON, Colo. — Littleton will be a part of the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver — whether it wants to or not.
Police have been training for months, resource centers are planned for City Center, and now the train lines through town have gotten involved.
By order of the U.S. Secret Service, trains will not be permitted to move through the City of Denver from Aug. 24-28, except between the hours of 11 p.m. and 11 a.m. Trains are to stage north and south of the city.
Being just outside of Denver city limits, the plan is to have some of those cars idling within Littleton during down times. That means traffic down the tracks — and the accompanying noise — will be heavy through the nights.
There are two tracks running north and south through Littleton, west of Santa Fe Drive. The west track is owned by Union Pacific and the east track is owned by Burlington Northern-Santa Fe.
Residents of Littleton living near the tracks were sent letters this week from the city, informing them of the traffic change.
The letter said the city has, “… limited authority to regulate the railroads, especially when they are getting their direction from the Secret Service.”
The city does not expect to receive any more specifics on how railroad operations will differ from normal, but said it is fair to say they will be different than what residents adjacent to the tracks have become accustomed to.
Just west of the freight train lines, light rail also will change during DNC week.
The two lines stopping at downtown and Mineral Avenue will be ridden by Littleton police officers, who will patrol for unlawful behavior.
The Littleton Police Department has been preparing for the week-long event for some time, and Lt. Mike Broadhead said they are ready to respond.
“I can say we’re ready to react to anything, but we don’t know what that might be,” he said. “We’re like everyone else — we’ve been planning.”
One part of the plan is to have every officer in the department working, with no vacations allowed during the convention. An emergency plan calls for officers to work 12-hour shifts if something happens downtown or locally.
Some officers are already set to work 12-hour shifts to supplement the Denver police force. Those hours initially will be paid by Littleton Police, but will be reimbursed through a security grant for the convention.