It bothers me to hear and read in the news that Chicago is a crime hell-hole. Chicago is actually a big, parts-beautiful-and-safe place. Only parts of Chicago are crime-hell-holes. The black projects parts. A place where “black lives do not matter.” Thousands dead, shot, little kids among them, year after year. Killings are one thing, there are lives destroyed by the industry and machinations of illegal drug “industry.”
I have friends on the Chicago Police Department. I know their trials and tribulations over this. And they are run ragged (Chicago PD has not been “defunded” but they can’t seem to stop it all.) As with the crime-fighting success in Washington D.C., Trump teases that he wants to post National Guard on – you know – “every Chicago street corner,” but really just in those ridden areas. Not ALL of Chicago, yet the name of the city is consistently dropped like the whole place is science fiction movie.
Folks, even around the world, are hearing terms like “Posse Comitattus.” Back in the early 1970s when I attended the military police academy, a foundational point in training was the Posse Comitattus Act. It separated the civilian police world from the military police world. We were going to be MPs and that was important. It is not simply “CAN OR CAN NOT though.” There are…rules and ”exemptions.” What are emergencies and what exactly is policing? (Real quick-per AI – “Policing involves enforcing laws, regulating activities, and controlling behavior by or as if by a police force.” This ia an important legal point.)
First off, it’s a Latin phrase that translates to “the power of the county” or “force of the county.” Historically, it refers to citizens a sheriff could summon to assist in keeping the peace, apprehending criminals, etc. Like a posse we see in western movies.
The Posse Comitatus Act is a U.S. federal law that generally prohibits the use of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, (and now Space Force) for domestic law enforcement purposes, except when expressly authorized by the Constitution or an Act of Congress.
Into the legal weeds we charge! Enacted in 1878 after the Civil War, the Act aims to prevent the military from becoming a national police force. The Act itself doesn’t apply to state National Guards when under state control. But when federalized. The National Guard troops are bound by it. Federalize state national guards? The federalization of the National Guard refers to the process by which state National Guard units are placed under federal authority, usually by the President of the United States. Normally, each state (and territory) controls its Guard units through their governors. The National Guard is unique because it can operate under state authority, meaning it is not always subject to the Posse Comitatus Act. However, when federalized, it becomes subject to the Act. The President may federalize the Guard in situations like:
A) war or national emergency.
B) Civil disturbances or insurrection.
C) To enforce federal law or protect civil rights – when state authorities resist it.
D) They can be deployed anywhere in the U.S. or overseas.
A few more things protestors don’t know or care to reveal? Congress has created several exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, allowing for military involvement in specific situations:
– Insurrection Act: Allows the President to deploy troops for law enforcement in cases of domestic unrest or to uphold court orders when state authorities are unable to.
– Counterdrug Operations: Military support is authorized for counterdrug operations.
– Emergency Response: The military can provide assistance in emergencies involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction.
– Protection of Federal Property: The military can be used to protect federal property.
So, there is a legal path, despite what some handpicked, liberal federal judges might think, to send troops into states, BUT STILL NOT POLICING by definition. So far in DC, AI reports that-
“The National Guard in Washington, D.C. is NOT making arrests. NOT policing in the legal sense. Their role has been to serve as visible deterrence, support law enforcement with patrols, protect federal facilities, manage traffic and crowds, and even assist with beautification efforts like cleanup. While the deployment had a significant drop in crime, the Guard acting directly as arresting officers is not, has not been part of their mission.”
The NG have been in DC and have been a welcome deterrence for the actual citizens walking through life. Crime is seriously down. Will Trump send the National Guard in to stand around on the street corners of the Chicago projects like…like powerless security guards?
Neither DC nor Chicago have defunded their police. Still, they need more to create stability. New York Governor Hochul put her NG in NYC subways. Major transit crimes went down 29 percent and arrests up 71 percent in the first year. More proof that the idea of “MORE” works. Not less. For me, in the big picture, this is all the evidence that inadequate police, or the generic “defund the police” is nothing but a sad, stupid move of liberals. The curse of George Floyd and the idiot movements that followed. What is supposed to save the black community, kills off the black community. Having no police, or inadequate police is a fairy tale concept for a fairly tale world of fairy tale liberals.
I have nothing against smart “re-working the police,” ideas, but seriously, randomly cutting the police or removing it is a failed, Democratic party, Left-ignorant idea. Must we be so bloody stupid that we all have to live through these flawed fads to arise into the common sense we should have had in the first place? At great human cost. Deploy or not, Trump’s actions and “teasing” has expertly advertised yet another tragic thinking flaw in left-wing, Democrat policy.
(Maybe we need a “POSSE READUS ACT?” We should be deploying teachers to poor black neighborhoods in Chicago. AI reports – “In Chicago Public Schools, only about 23% of Black students in grades 3–8 read at grade level, dropping to just 11.5% by 11th grade. NAEP results show only 17% of Black 8th graders reach proficiency. Scores have improved slightly since the pandemic, but large racial and neighborhood gaps in reading remain.” Black education doesn’t matter there either, but I guess that would threaten the liberal Teachers Union-which is another scourge on our whole nation.)