Maryland Orders Law Enforcement Buildup at Baltimore, Aiming To Preempt Trump’s Plan To Deploy National Guard

Maryland officials are scrambling to flood Baltimore with state resources to combat crime, hoping to stave off President Trump’s threat to deploy National Guard troops to the state’s largest city.Governor Wes Moore, along with Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon Scott, announced late Friday that state law enforcement agencies, including the Maryland State Police and the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, will work closely with the Baltimore Police Department to target crime in Charm City.The additional officers will patrol “high-risk areas” to create a “highly visible law enforcement presence,” according to a press release from the governor’s office. The additional officers will also assist the Baltimore PD with firearms and narcotics investigations.“We can do this ourselves,” Mr. Scott said at a Friday evening press conference with Mr. Moore. “We do not need an occupation. We do not need troops on our streets.”Under the plan, Maryland State Police will deploy to state routes within the city limits of Baltimore, freeing up BPD officers to patrol other areas. The initiative revives programs scaled back under former Gov. Larry Hogan and expands a joint task force that hunts down fugitives.Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week that he will be ordering National Guard Troops to both Chicago and Baltimore.“Chicago is a hellhole right now, Baltimore is a hellhole right now,” he said. “We have a right to do it because I have an obligation to do it to protect this country, and that includes Baltimore.”Messrs. Scott and Moore rejected Mr. Trump’s threats to send in the troops but have embraced the possibility of additional FBI and ATF agents as well as increased federal funding for the police.“I have a whole list of federal resources that I would love for the president of the United States to be able to authorize,” Mr. Moore said this week at the National Press Club in D.C., adding that calling up the Maryland National Guard is not one of the resources Baltimore needs.“One hundred percent I would not accept it, and there’s no need for it,” he said.Mr. Moore pointed out during his appearance at the Press Club that troops who have recently been deployed to Washington have not been helping with local policing efforts.“These are people with other jobs. These are people who still have their families relying on them, who now are being asked to come to Washington, D.C., to rake mulch and clean up trash and help people with their luggage when they arrive at Union Station,” he said. “And do you know why? Because they’re not trained to do municipal policing. Do you know who is trained? Local law enforcement. FBI and ATF agents.”Mr. Trump’s takeover of the Washington, D.C., police department, meanwhile, is expected to end next week following reports that congressional leaders have no plans to extend the 30-day emergency order beyond September 10, as required by law. However the highly visible presence of federal agents across the city is expected to continue.Mayor Muriel Bowser appears to have won the city some wiggle room with a directive calling for collaboration between city and federal law enforcement agencies, while requesting assurances that the district can manage public safety matters independently.The decision to forego a congressional vote on the police takeover “is by mutual agreement with the White House,” a senior Senate staffer told The Washington Post. The staffer said the White House was “mollified by Bowser’s promise of cooperation and support.”

Maryland Orders Law Enforcement Buildup at Baltimore, Aiming To Preempt Trump’s Plan To Deploy National Guard

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