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So what's the deal with the National Guard deployments? I've seen a lot of reporting around whether the cities want the Guard, whether Trump will deploy the Guard, whether the courts will force Trump to pull the Guard out, etc.
But I haven't seen much reporting on the impact that Guard is having where it is deployed. Is crime down, even anecdotally? Are the streets safer? Have National Guardsman shot or beat up or detained anyone?
Was it a good idea? What are the early results?
I've heard anecdotally from the national media that the DC NG has made a huge difference.
Less reporting of it being helpful in other areas, the proposed explanation for that is that DC was somewhat open to the idea and coordinated areas for them to be present.
Even some dems have supported it, although usually quietly.
I travel to D.C. for work pretty often and always meet up with friends who live in the city. During a recent trip, my friends and I agreed the city has changed for the better since the National Guard deployment.
The usual "crowd" that spills in from Maryland at night dropped significantly, making walking around past 10 p.m. without the fear of getting mugged or murdered possible for the first time, according to my friends, in "years." There's still some gun violence, but it's mostly contained to southeast D.C., across the river, which is a hotbed for criminal activity anyway. If there's a place the National Guard should focus its attention, it's there.
There are fewer homeless people and drug addicts harassing people on the street, thanks to a faster turnaround time by the cops to remove them when businesses and residents file reports. Before, homeless people would make forts out of cardboard boxes and squat, sometimes for months, in front of buildings, with the city shrugging its shoulders; not the case anymore.
With ICE on the prowl, there are also fewer noisy scooters driven by illegals working as food delivery people. There was a point, my friends said, when traffic was "filled" with scooters that swerved through cars, drove on the wrong side of the road, encroached into bike lanes, and sped through sidewalks. Additionally, they'd hear the whistling sound of scooters being locked for deliveries at all hours of the day. Now, they're all mostly gone.
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