On occasion an angry local would hurl verbal abuse at them, but the soldiers simply shrugged and carried on what appeared to be an undemanding assignment.
“It’s boring. We’re not really doing much,“ said Sergeant Fox, who declined to give his first name.
The soldiers, some of whom told Reuters they did not get involved in arrests, are officially in Washington to support a federal crackdown on what President Donald Trump calls a crime epidemic. But that depiction appears to run counter to the fact that crime rates overall have shrunk in recent years.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said this week she did not think the arrival of troops was about tackling crime. She also expressed concern about the presence of “an armed militia in the nation’s capital.”
By contrast with central Washington, residents of Ward 8 in the city's southeast - the area with the highest crime rate - said there was not a guardsman in sight. With the ward's murder rate dwarfing that of most other neighborhoods, many locals said they would welcome troops on their streets.
The Joint Task Force for the District of Columbia, which is leading the crime crackdown, said where National Guard troops are deployed is based on requests from law enforcement agencies.
“The National Guard is not making arrests at this time, their role is to protect federal assets - including law enforcement officers - and provide a visible law enforcement presence,“ she said.
Rare deployments
But the city's declining crime rate, coupled with the limited involvement of the troops in crime fighting, has raised questions about the political motivations behind the current deployment.
“Not in our lifetimes has a president said that I’m going to use uniformed soldiers to reduce crime,“ Manner told Reuters.
During a visit to a police base in Washington on Thursday, Trump said his law enforcement crackdown will “go onto other places.” Earlier this month Trump suggested he could shift his focus to cities including Chicago and New York.
As troops on the National Mall mingled with tourists from the U.S. and abroad, a group of guardsmen from Mississippi were walking alongside Anu Pokharel, his wife, and two daughters aged 8 and 5.
He said he supported the deployment. “It feels cleaner and safer,“ he said.
As they strolled around central Washington, some soldiers told Reuters that they did not expect to get involved in arrests.
Asked if she thought that is likely, she said, “Honestly at this rate I don’t believe so.” She added by being deployed in the National Mall, “it frees up the local law enforcement to do what they need to do.”
Most of the soldiers told Reuters they had been instructed not to talk to the press. Instead they had all been issued with a printed statement they produced from their pockets. It states that they are in the city to support “district and federal law enforcement by keeping DC beautiful and safe.”- REUTERS
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