National Guard to Patrol City Neighborhoods

National Guard to Patrol City Neighborhoods

kdka.com

In the aftermath of the weekend's storm, hundreds of National Guard members have been helping Pittsburgh's emergency personnel respond to residents' needs; and beginning tonight, they're also going to be patrolling some city streets.

"We will also begin to have the National Guard patrol our neighborhoods to deal with any issues that come up," Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced at an afternoon news conference. "So city residents," he added, "be advised that you will begin to see National Guard Humvees in some of your neighborhoods beginning this evening."

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Pittsburgh's Mayor, Luke Ravenstahl says the National Guard was called to respond there to assist with the severe blizzard conditions. The Guard will be doing everything from assisting EMS with calls for service and clearing roadways of snow, to going out and picking up medication for citizens who've been snowed in their homes. (huh?)

There may not be anything particularly earth-shattering about this request for the National Guard by Pittsburgh. but a couple of things were interesting about the situation.

The fact that the mayor was quoted as saying the National Guard will be "patrolling our neighborhoods" and told residents "be advised that you will begin to see National Guard Humvees in some of your neighborhoods beginning this evening" just struck me as odd, especially since he already claimed that the Guard had assisted police with 75 emergency calls for service.

Also, who handled these tasks with EMS in the 1993 blizzard? I've not been able to find any reports that the National Guard was used then. A comment posted on that site by a resident of that area questioned this need for the National Guard and said they were not deployed in 1993. Another comment from a citizen requested urgent help because his/her car is snowed in and there is no one around to help dig the car out.

"picking up resident's medication" and clearing roadways? Just curious if this is the norm or if anyone sees it as an attempt to sell the idea of having military just patrolling around our streets like it's business as usual.

Thanks for your thoughts...

kdka.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The National Guard is there for crisis situations whether an act of god or not. I respect what the NG is there for and what they do.

I won't be worried unless they don't leave after this whole ordeal has passed.

reply to post by DaMod


I would have to agree with you. Just as long as they see themselves as people, not officers.

Then again, guns for a storm clean up?

[edit on 10-2-2010 by gandhi]

reply to post by gandhi


I'd be more interested to know just exactly what the nature of these 75 emergency calls were that required police to need assistance from the NG.

reply to post by NightGypsy


I'm not too familiar with Pittsburgh. Here in central Kentucky, last year during the major ice storm that pretty much shut down much of the state, the NG helped out by clearing roads of debris, providing drinking water, food, medicines, etc. I see nothing wrong with that.

Considering the many miles of roads we have in the county I live in, and the too few sheriff's deputies, I would welcome the NG to patrol during a weather disaster. HUMVEE's can traverse deep snow, etc. much more effectively than the patrol cars.

other factors to keep in mind are the fact that due to cutbacks in finance and personnel because of economic situations, and unusual weather patterns, with storm fronts coming back to back, would be the leading causes for a large metropolitan area such as Pittsburgh to ask for help from the national Guard. Under closer to normal economic situations, the city would have better funding and more personnel to handle the extreme weather.

Glad to see the weekend warriors are doing something to earn their pay.