The Greensboro Police Department dedicated 2,200 personnel hours and $79,716 to providing crowd and traffic management for after-concert events for the sold-out SuperJam concert on June 29, Chief Ken Miller reported in a memo to City Manager Denise Turner Roth. The cost of supplemental staffing from 6 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. on parts of High Point Road, Patterson Street, Randleman Road, West Market Street and downtown included $52,500 in extra duty costs. Miller said 297 officers, supervisors and command staff members worked the event.
The hip-hop concert reportedly drew 16,500 people, including many visitors from outside of Greensboro. The police department’s proactive response to the event included establishing a mobile command center on High Point Road. Police directed inbound traffic on High Point Road onto Business 40 around midnight to relieve congestion around the Greensboro Coliseum, which hosted the event. Police reported no robberies, serious assaults or serious motor vehicle accident, but issued more than 200 citations, including 88 alcohol-related arrests, 40 narcotics violations and five warrants pending related to an illegal club operation.
“As with previous years, alcohol and marijuana use contributed to bad behavior and poor decision making, creating the greatest challenge for the police department,” Miller wrote.
The Miller memo has prompted at least two strands of debate: One centered on the race of the concert patrons and another on the chief's characterization of marijuana use.
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