From breaking up a fight or identifying a suspected robber to picking up trash and removing graffiti, National Guard forces are on an unusual deployment mixing security and cleanup in the US capital.
Now such unorthodox assignments may soon be replicated elsewhere, with President Donald Trump on Monday signing an order sending troops to Memphis, Tennessee.
Trump deployed the military in Washington a little over a month ago to help crack down on what he claimed was out-of-control crime, despite police statistics showing violent offenses were down in the city.
The contentious move — which the Washington attorney general’s office said amounts to an “involuntary military occupation” — offers a preview of what the National Guard may do not only in Memphis, but Baltimore and Chicago where Trump has threatened to send troops.
“Fighting crime in this manner is very unusual,” Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine colonel and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of the Washington deployment.
Guard members have been called in for particular incidents that last a few days, “but this longer-term policing function” is not typical, Cancian said.
There are currently some 2,300 troops in Washington, more than half of them from eight Republican-led states and the rest from the city’s National Guard.
Federal law enforcement personnel have also increased their presence on Washington’s streets, and Trump threatened overnight Monday to declare a national emergency and federalize the city because Mayor Muriel Bowser said local police would no longer help with immigration enforcement.
– ‘Visible crime deterrent’ –
A spokesperson for Joint Task Force-DC (JTF-DC) — to which the National Guard troops in the city are assigned — said they are tasked with “monument security, community safety patrols, protecting Federal facilities, traffic control posts, and area beautification.”
“Guard members will provide a visible crime deterrent, not arrest, search, or conduct direct law enforcement actions,” the spokesperson said.
JTF-DC statements provide a snapshot of troop activities.
On September 12, for instance, they responded to a potential active shooter situation at a Metro station, cordoning off the area. Five days earlier they broke up a fight near another station.
In late August they identified and followed a suspected robber until police arrived and made an arrest, and protected a family that was being harassed by a man who said he had a gun.
National Guard forces are also involved in projects aimed at city cleanup — another of Trump’s stated goals.
As of September 14, troops cleared some 970 bags of trash, spread more than 1,000 cubic yards (765 cubic meters) of mulch, removed five truckloads of plant waste, and painted nearly 100 yards (90 meters) of fencing, according to JTF-DC.
– ‘Shame and alarm’ –
Cancian said that while these are not typical jobs for the Guard, troops have “been used for all kinds of things,” from handing out leaflets during the pandemic to shoveling snow or driving buses.
However, “if you want to do landscaping, hire a landscaping company,” he said, as they are “much, much better at it, and cheaper, faster.”
The deployment has been controversial — something JTF-DC is well aware of, according to a document mistakenly sent to journalists this month.
The document, a daily summary gauging media and online sentiment, said social media mentions “from self-identified veterans and active-duty commenters expressed shame and alarm” about the deployment.
“Trending videos show residents reacting with alarm and indignation,” it said, also referring to “mentions of fatigue, confusion, and demoralization — ‘just gardening,’ unclear mission, wedge between citizens and the military.”
The open-ended nature of the mission in Washington could also be an issue, Cancian said, noting that “strain increases” as the deployment goes on, especially if “people don’t think that they’re doing something that’s particularly important.”
There could eventually be “pushback from the Guard saying, you know, either we get a real mission… which doesn’t seem to be there, or send us home.”
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