Just in case, police prepare for trouble on Election Day

Though they’d rather not discuss it, local law enforcement agencies are planning for possible civil unrest following Tuesday’s election.

“We have no intelligence indicating there will be problems,” Fulton County Assistant Police Chief Gary Stiles said. “Law enforcement must deal with ‘what ifs’ and worst-case scenarios. What if there’s an extended power outage at a polling place?”

Similar preparations are under way across the country, fueled partly by Internet rumors and crystallized within recent comments by Democratic strategist James Carville on CNN.

“But you stop and contemplate this country if [Barack] Obama goes in and he has a consistent five-point lead and loses the election, it would be very, very, very dramatic out there,” he said.

Another concern: excessive celebrations following a potentially historic outcome, as sometimes seen following sports championships.

Stiles said he has been in close contact with federal and state officials in helping finalize the county’s election night plans. Fulton County’s Emergency Operations Center will be activated to handle communications among various agencies, including the Atlanta Police Department.

Stiles was short on specifics, not saying whether officers would be stationed at every polling place.

Atlanta police won’t be posting officers at polling spots but will have them stationed nearby in case elections officials need help with pedestrian or vehicle traffic, said Sgt. Lisa Keyes, a department spokeswoman.

In the event of any election-related disturbances, the police department also will have an undisclosed number of officers on “standby” —- ready to report to duty if needed, she said.

Keyes encouraged resi-dents to report any suspicious activity at polling places to police.

In Cobb County, there will be two officers at each of the polling sites in unincorporated Cobb. The Cobb sheriff’s office will have approximately 95 deputies assigned to polling stations, a 10 percent increase from the prior general election. Col. Milton Beck, the sheriff’s operations division commander, said the number could fluctuate depending on requests from election board officials.

“We are very sensitive about having too large of a presence,” Stiles said. “But we’re completely prepared to deal with every contingency.”

Cobb police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said the increased officers will not be pulled from regular patrols. Most of the manpower will be detectives, special unit officers and headquarters personnel.

“We just want to be proactive in our approach,” Pierce said. “We will have two officers at each location until the final person has voted.”

Pierce doesn’t anticipate any post-election problems.

“We can activate in a moment’s notice the various resources we have available,” Pierce said.

Clayton County will step up a command post at Tara Stadium in Jonesboro to respond to potential election-related problems. In addition, an officer will be stationed at every polling place in the county.

Nationally, Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago are among the cities planning to deploy extra police. In Oakland, SWAT teams are on standby, according to The Hill newspaper.

“I think it’s a big deal —- you got an African-American running and [a] woman running,” Oakland Police spokesman Jeff Thomason told the paper in reference to Obama and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Large crowds are the greater concern, Stiles said.

“This is something that may stress the system,” he said of record voter participation. “There hasn’t been a large enough turnout before to trigger the kind of response you’re seeing this time.”

Unlike nearby jurisdictions, DeKalb County police aren’t planning anything special for Tuesday night.