BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge city leaders weighed in Tuesday after Gov. Jeff Landry requested the National Guard be deployed in the city.
Landry submitted a request for 1,000 Louisiana National Guardsmen to the U.S. Department of War on Monday night to address "ongoing public safety concerns regarding high crime rates throughout the State." Guardsmen would be sent to Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport. The next day, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Councilmembers and Mayor-President Sid Edwards weighed in on the announcement.
Councilmembers argued that the governor's proposal represented government overreach, threatened civil liberties and diverted resources from long-term solutions on Tuesday.
"Unlike trained police officers, National Guard members are not equipped for community policing, de