By JACK BROOK, Associated Press/Report for America
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana National Guard is ending its eight-month deployment patrolling the streets of New Orleans, and troops will be withdrawn from the city by the end of the month.
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The 120 remaining troops completed their final patrol Monday and are set to conclude their mission in the city on Aug. 31, said Lt. Col. Noel Collins, a guard spokesperson.
In late December, 350 troops were deployed to the city to boost public safety in the French Quarter as part of a heavy security presence for New Year’s celebrations a year after an attack on revelers on Bourbon Street killed 14 people. While the troops were initially set to withdraw from the city following Mardi Gras festivities in February, a slimmed-down deployment was extended through August.
The deployment, requested by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, was authorized by President Donald Trump following high-profile National Guard missions his administration launched in other Democrat-led cities last year, including in Washington and Memphis, Tennessee. But the sight of National Guard troops was not unusual in New Orleans, where troops had already been deployed briefly to bolster security for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras earlier that year.
According to the Louisiana National Guard, troops conducted more than 4,000 patrols and assisted law enforcement with 171 arrests. They were mainly present in the city’s historic French Quarter, a tourist hot spot.
Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the guard’s deployment, said in a statement that she was “incredibly grateful to the men and women of the Louisiana National Guard.”
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Louisiana’s governor, a staunch Trump ally, said the troops’ presence had improved safety in the city.
“This mission, though temporary, allowed our great soldiers readiness training that they otherwise would not have experienced,” Landry said in a statement provided by the guard.
Violent crime in New Orleans has been declining for several years in parallel with national trends, according to data compiled by the city’s police department.
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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