https://chicago.suntimes.com/platform/amp/city-hall/2020/9/2/21418991/chicago-protests-looting-illinois-national-guard-police-for-4-month-deployment?__twitter_impression=true
Cost to deploy 1,200 National Guard members in city for 4 months: $54 million
A four-month deployment by 1,200 members of the Illinois National Guard to stop Chicago’s never-ending cycle of gang violence would cost taxpayers $54 million and stigmatize entire South and West side neighborhoods for years to come, aldermen were told Wednesday.
Alicia Tate-Nadeau was the Illinois National Guard’s first-ever female general. She ran Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and currently serves as acting director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.
Wednesday, Tate-Nadeau testified before the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety about a resolution calling for declaring a state of emergency in Chicago that could pave the way for a four-month stint by the Illinois National Guard to either relieve police officers working 12-hour days or protect neighborhood assets so local officers can respond to violent crime.
Tate-Nadeau said a four-month deployment by 1,200 National Guard members would cost $13.6 million per month, or $54.4 million total. That money is “not reimbursable” by the federal government.
Even if a city facing a $2 billion budget shortfall could afford that hefty price tag, Chicago would first have to demonstrate that it has exhausted all of the other resources at its disposal: hundreds of officers from the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s office, and “mutual aid” from scores of suburban police departments.
Tate-Nadeau also warned of the limitations. National Guard members are limited to a “support role.” They can help create roadblocks and staff checkpoints, but only with “on-site assistance” by Chicago police. The citizen soldiers cannot detain anyone.
“Also, it cannot be overstated the visual effect of having armed, uniformed soldiers on the streets of Chicago. This could have an unintended effect and make people feel less safe in their communities, and could result in areas of the city becoming stigmatized for days, weeks, and even years to come,” Tate-Nadeau said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot strongly opposes calling out the National Guard, pointing to the 1970 National Guard shooting at Kent State University that left four students dead and nine people injured.
On Wednesday, Police Superintendent David Brown was equally adamant.
He argued the National Guard “trains for matters of national security, natural disaster and major upheaval,” but few guardsmen “have any experience policing civilians or dealing with the violent crime” Chicago faces.
They don’t have “a standard set of rules of engagement on domestic soil.” They can’t be used to “free up CPD resources,” since they don’t have arrest powers.
“I firmly believe that Chicago needs to solve its own problems,” he said.
“If we had sustained civil unrest akin to what you see in Portland — over 100 days of protest — that’s more the National Guard’s role. They can come in and be a relief factor at checkpoints where we had to shut down downtown. If we had to do that over several weeks, have our critical infrastructure protected — our water treatment centers, our electrical grid sites … hospitals and City Hall. We just don’t have those circumstances.”