WASHINGTON — DC Councilmember Trayon White, Sr. wants the National Guard to help police officers keep the streets safe. Violent crime and property crime are both up substantially in 2023.
Activating the District of Columbia National Guard is not the mayor's decision to make, so some people wondered if the Guard could be used to patrol the streets.
QUESTION
Can the District of Columbia National Guard be activated to patrol neighborhoods as police officers?
SOURCES
ANSWER
Yes, the National Guard could be activated to serve as additional police officers in the District.
WHAT WE FOUND
The National Guard is often activated during natural disasters and public safety emergency events. They participated in protecting the U.S. Capitol during the riots on January 6, 2021, and they patrolled several cities during the protests in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
The rules governing the D.C. National Guard were written in the Code of the District of Columbia in 1889. One of those rules, § 49–404, states that the guard may be enlisted “to aid the civil authorities in the execution of the laws or suppression of riots.” That would allow them to serve like police officers.
If Mayor Muriel Bowser wants their help, she would need to ask the federal government for its blessing.
In every other American state and territory, the authority over the National Guard belongs to the governor. Since Washington, D.C. is not a state and has no governor, the situation here is different. The same section of the Code of the District of Columbia that established the guard authorized the president as its commander-in-chief.
When Harry Truman was in the White House, however, he used an executive order to delegate that power to the secretary of defense, who then gave it to the secretary of the Army. So, that is who Mayor Bowser would need to appeal to if she wants citizen soldiers to help out.