Minnesota National Guard Preparing for the Worst Ahead of Floyd Cops' Trial
The Minnesota National Guard may deploy indefinitely to Minneapolis while the four former police officers involved in the death of George Floyd are on trial in 2021, KSTP reported Wednesday.
The National Guard’s 12-page plan dubbed “Operation Safety Net” details a worst-case scenario plan in which all available state guard forces would be deployed for an indefinite amount of time during and after the trials of former Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Keung, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao.
“It’s very prudent on us to make sure we’re planning for large scale numbers and how we would activate units,” Col. Scott Rohweder said.
If the Minnesota National Guard is deployed again, it will be the fourth time in less than 12 months that it will have been called to respond to unrest, according to KSTP.
The trial of the four former officers is scheduled for early March and expected to last eight weeks.
“It is a big deal,” Rohweder said.
“It’s one of those things where we have to be prepared for that kind of operation and change the paradigm of our thinking to make sure that we’re prepared at any moment’s notice to activate that kind of large scale force.”
The Minneapolis Police Department has reportedly been planning for possible unrest since July and will coordinate the multi-agency operation, according to a police spokesperson.
A similar number of guardsmen are expected to be deployed as there were over the summer, though they will likely be needed for longer periods of time.
The mission is to protect people and property, according to Rohweder.
Chauvin’s lawyer asked the court for the trial’s start date to be pushed back on Monday.
If the trial sticks to its scheduled start date, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz could activate the National Guard through an executive order as early as February.
“The events in May showed us that we could activate the whole Minnesota National Guard,” Rohweder said.
“That’s what we do in the military, we plan for contingency operations to ensure that we’re ready to provide the support the governor might request.”
Floyd died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest, triggering nationwide protests and riots and calls to defund police departments.
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