KENOSHA, WI (WTAQ) – National Guard members from three others states will be joining the effort to keep the peace in Kenosha this weekend.
Governor Tony Evers has been criticized this week for not sending enough National Guard troops to Kenosha in response to protests and riots taking place in the city this week. The state is now accepting assistance from three other states.
“We’re here to preserve public safety and the ability of individuals to exercise their first amendment rights to lawfully and peacefully demonstrate,” said Wisconsin National Guard Adjutant General Paul Knapp. “We’re also bringing additional guard members from other states. Alabama, Michigan, and Arizona have offered to send service members to assist in keeping the peace and keeping public safety.”
According to Knapp, each state has a certain number of military police quick reaction force soldiers that are trained in the type of operation being conducted in Kenosha. For Wisconsin, that was the initial deployment of 125 members. They are specialized in handling situations through Civil Disturbance Operations – like crowd control.
“We decided that instead of mobilizing more soldiers from Wisconsin I don’t necessarily have that specialized training that we reach out and see if there are other states that had soldiers available with that type of specialized training,” Knapp explained.
Knapp issued a reminder that the National Guard is not federalized, and any members serving in the state would fall under his command during the tenure of that mission.
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