A Reuters investigation has revealed that thousands of National Guard troops deployed by US President Donald Trump in Washington as part of his campaign to combat crime rarely participate in the operations for which they were deployed.
According to the investigation, which was based on a review of documents from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, National Guard soldiers were mentioned in only about 1.3% of the criminal cases brought before the court, and in many cases they appeared as victims of crime or as witnesses rather than as law enforcement officers, at a time when their number is 4,500 soldiers, exceeding the number of police officers, which is 3,200, with a total expected cost of up to $1.4 billion through 2029.
The analysis showed that soldiers are mainly located in wealthier, whiter, and less dangerous neighborhoods than the rest of the capital, with court records showing no indication of them carrying out law enforcement work in the neighborhoods that have seen 82% of the city's murders over the past five years, raising questions about the effectiveness of their deployment in areas that are most in need of an effective security presence.
The report also noted that soldiers often deal with minor incidents such as stealing pizza or drinking root without paying, while civil society leaders and priests criticized this presence, describing it as spreading fear rather than security, pointing out that the soldiers are not acting as real police but rather practicing "presence patrols" aimed at deterrence, according to the Ministry of Defense.
The documented cases showed that soldiers could detain suspects but had to call the police to make a formal arrest, at a time when they were sometimes witnesses to crimes without intervening, as happened in the case of a young man who was stabbed to death, where soldiers discovered his body but did not realize the seriousness of his condition until the police arrived.
The study concluded that the impact of soldiers on crime rates was limited, with homicides in Washington declining for the third consecutive year, but also declining in other cities where the government did not send additional troops, with a slight increase in violent crime of 4% compared to last year, at a time when officials confirmed that soldiers are not prepared for police work and are more expensive than hiring additional police officers.
