Whatever happened to the National Guard being sent to quell riots?

[TorchTheWitch]

Or keep control of big protests that might get out of hand? Seems to me that SWAT isn't really the right agency to deal with a riot or keep control of a big unruly protest since in their job they're trained for and normally always sent after big time criminals like crazy person with gun that's taken hostages, etc.. National Guard deal with civil unrest as well as emergencies like floods, huge fires, earthquakes and various other disasters where they're needed more to render aid as well as keep general order and are trained to know when to help and when to hinder and how.

It just doesn't seem right to me that the trend seems to be to send in SWAT who aren't trained or used the same way National Guard is and the last agency one would want to quell civil unrest.

Is this because the National Guard has been used for the past decade or more as regular military being sent overseas or why the wrong agencies seem to be used now and why they've gotten so militarized?

I've been watching some of my DVD's lately, and was watching A Time to Kill for like the 100th time, and when it got to the part when the National Guard had to be sent in to quell civil unrest it suddenly occurred to me that the National Guard doesn't seem to be used in these situations anymore and that this may have something to do with the militarization of regular police departments and agencies like SWAT being sent in to do a job that they seem to be the totally wrong agency to have do it.

[opulent80]

1. Ohio?

Just a WAG.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Welcome to DU. eom

[Javaman]

9. First thought that came to my head too.

How soon people forget.

[newfie11]

4. Militarization was the last think these people needed

After what they had been through.
I think that would have made things worse.

The State Police were not dressed in military uniforms. I saw a picture with them joining in a march and wearing white shirts.
I think this was an excellent choice.

[TorchTheWitch]

6. I take it you aren't familiar with what the National Guard does?

They're sent in to HELP communities whether it's quelling unrest or working in areas where a national disaster has struck providing rescue services, building and engineering, providing food, water, shelter, medical aid, etc. where it's needed. What the hell they wear is immaterial. No one cares about their clothes, they care about what they're doing unlike these militarized police units that are only trained and only experience situations that deal with criminals and particularly bad ones. And that's what they did in Ferguson. Yes, they had to stop violence, but in their eyes every single person is a violent suspect because that's their training and normal work.

The unrest in Ferguson dropped dead once Obama called for calm. Once it was then Troopers coming in wearing regular work-a-day uniforms was all they needed since no one was looting or vandalizing or chucking Molotov cocktails anymore. Of course, it also made a difference also that the commander is a black man, and the Troopers are more racially diverse.

This is the kind of stuff that the states' National Guards are trained for and do (other than quelling civil unrest) and mostly they're sent to do (when not overseas fighting wars)...

[newfie11]

7. I'm very familiar with what the National Guard does

Having them help with the aftermath of a tornado and another time a huge forest fire. Yes they are very helpfull.
I don't feel this was the time to use them. They are still military, dressed in military uniforms, driving military vehicles, etc.

These people have had cops dressed in combat gear and the last thing they need is to have military brought in.

It seems to be working, the proof is in the pudding.

I remember the riots of the 60s, and National Guard being brought it but this was not the time or place for them.

[Nye Bevan]

5. Like George HW Bush's response to the LA riots in 1992?

On the fourth day, 2,000 7th Infantry Division soldiers, along with 1,500 Marines from 1st Marine Division, arrived to reinforce the California Army National Guard soldiers already in the city. This federal force took twenty-four hours to deploy to Huntington Park, about the same time it took for the California Army National Guard soldiers. This brought total troop strength associated with the effort to stop the breakdown in civil order to 13,500. U.S. military forces directly supported Los Angeles Police officers in restoring order and had a major effect of first containing, then stopping the violence.[44] With most of the violence under control, 30,000 people attended a peace rally. On the same day, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would begin a federal investigation of the Rodney King beating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1992_Los_Angeles_riots

[Bluenorthwest]

8. They were useful in 92, In LA the police were the problem so having anyone

who was not LAPD out there was very useful. By day four, LAPD had arrested about 8,000 people, many of them homeless people arrested for 'breaking curfew'. National Guard put an end to that in my neighborhood, in direct opposition to the LAPD. They stood guard over sleeping areas to prevent police interference. Much of the violence they curtailed was in fact, police violence.
I was there for the whole thing.

[Javaman]

11. I lived it.

I remember seeing NG in Humvees patrolling the streets.

I have stories...

[Javaman]

10. Kent State. nt

[TorchTheWitch]

13. Kent State was ages ago

And sending the National Guard in to quell riots didn't stop because of it.

Geez, I knew people would bring up Kent State. To difficult I guess to actually think about a genuine answer.

[Javaman]

14. yes, because it's "old news" to you, means it's irrelevant, right?

[Savannahmann]

12. The National Guard doesn't have enough badass hardware

Not like the cops who have bullet proof vests, shields, long billy clubs, and permission to shoot protesters unlike the national guard who has to follow orders and the laws of war. I think that the Police probably have more of those MRAP tanks too.