DC delegate unveils National Guard body camera legislation

Date: Category:politics Views:1 Comment:0


Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the nonvoting member representing the nation’s capital in Congress, introduced legislation Tuesday that would require National Guard troops to wear body cameras as they patrol Washington, D.C.

Norton said in a statement that the bill aims to “promote transparency in the troops’ interactions with the public and protect the public and the troops.”

“The Trump administration has deployed more than 2,000 troops to D.C. who are wholly unaccountable to D.C. residents. Even the D.C. National Guard troops are under the president’s control and do not report to the D.C. government,” Norton said.

“This unwarranted deployment politicizes the military and does a disservice to members of the National Guard, who are being taken from their own families and jobs, and to D.C. residents, who neither requested nor consented to it,” she continued.

“Body cameras would promote transparency and protect both the National Guard troops and D.C. residents from allegations of inappropriate or unlawful behavior,” she added.

The bill would require the National Guard’s participation in a program similar to the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) “well-established” body-worn camera program, which ensures the preservation and disclosure of the footage, Norton said.

Trump deployed hundreds of Guard members in the District earlier this month and federalized the local police department as part of a federal takeover aimed at cracking down on crime. Multiple states — including Mississippi, Ohio and West Virginia — have also sent personnel.

The Pentagon announced Monday that some National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., began carrying service-issue weapons Sunday evening. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an order last week authorizing the move.

Democrats have sharply criticized the ongoing efforts, and city officials have shared data showing crime had already been decreasing in recent years in multiple categories.

Trump has challenged those figures, however, and has accused the city of producing “fake crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety,” while defending his administration’s efforts for making the District “safe again.”

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