A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer spoke to regional police chiefs in Norwood Wednesday morning about the 2020 Republican National Convention, which will be held in Charlotte next August.

Maj. Steven Brochu said because of its size, surrounding counties will be affected and additional law enforcement officers needed for the event set for Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 at the Spectrum Center.

“Our biggest challenge right now is we want to increase the number of officers we have come assist us and we want to do some additional security measures,” Brochu said.

The city, along with Milwaukee, which will host the Democratic National Convention, received a $50 million grant to help organize the convention.

There will be 22 different subcommittees, Brochu said, that will help organize the four-day event. The subcommittees will work on issues including traffic, crowd management, intelligence and venues.

Brochu said hotels in surrounding counties will be needed for all of the people who will descend upon the greater Charlotte area.

A recent bill was passed that will allow law enforcement agencies outside of the state to help with the convention, but Brochu said law enforcement officers from across the state are needed as well.

He said CMPD has already sent letters to law enforcement agencies throughout the state to gauge how many officers they could likely send to Charlotte for the convention.

Once CMPD figures out how many extra officers it can afford, which should take a few months, the officers will be divided into different groups (SWAT, bomb tech, bike officers, etc.).

Brochu promised that officers “will not put anybody, deputy, police officer or otherwise, in a position they are not trained or assigned to do or equipped to do.”

The $50 million grant will be used to reimburse all the agencies that will help support CMPD during the convention.

Oakboro Police Chief T.J. Smith, who was at the Norwood meeting, said several Oakboro officers would be interested in helping at the event.

Smith, then an officer in Locust, helped with the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

Albemarle Police Chief David Dulin said his officers would also participate.