High-crime Louisiana city weighs Trump's possible troop deployment

Bangkok Post Group

Leaders in Shreveport, Louisiana, are considering a proposal floated by U.S. President Donald Trump to send National Guard troops to the state to fight crime - an idea backed by the state’s Republican governor. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00I love my home. I love, I love Streetport. But Streetport has broken my heart.

00:06Shannon Ballantyne's 17-year-old son Cameron was shot and killed last month

00:11near their home in a high crime neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana.

00:15Police have not yet made any arrests.

00:18This is Bond Street.

00:19Shreveport Police Chief Wayne E. Smith has pins marking each one of the 26 murders

00:25that have shaken the city so far this year.

00:28He is weighing a proposal floated by President Donald Trump

00:31to send National Guard troops into Louisiana to fight crime,

00:36an idea backed by the state's Republican governor.

00:39Smith says low pay and benefits make recruitment tough.

00:43And if the Louisiana National Guard is deployed in his city or elsewhere in the state,

00:48his ranks will be thinned out even more.

00:50A significant number, and I'm not sure exactly what that is,

00:54of police officers here are reservists.

00:58So each time they get called up or deployed to go somewhere else,

01:06you can see what that does.

01:07That leaves me one more person short.

01:10Shreveport's Republican Mayor Tom Arsenault called the idea intriguing

01:14in an interview in his office, but did not express explicit support for it.

01:19I believe that our Shreveport Police Department is doing a terrific job with the resources

01:26that are available to it.

01:27Still, we are historically low on police officers,

01:32so the idea of having additional state or federal resources available to the city of Shreveport is intriguing,

01:41and we certainly are willing to discuss how, when, and what kind of resources would be deployed to assist in the fighting of crime.

01:55City leaders in Shreveport say they have had success, as data shows the murder rate has been falling.

02:01They credit that in part to an increased use of technology, including street cameras and drones.

02:08Regardless of whether the National Guard comes or not, it won't bring back Ballantyne's son.

02:13They've got me grieving, they've got me upset, and I'm going to be upset, and I'm not going to rest.

02:18I won't ever rest.

02:19Even when they find the people responsible for my child's murder,

02:23I'm still not going to rest because he's not there.

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