Two Tennessee National Guard members assigned to a crime-fighting patrol in Memphis fatally shot a man Sunday who turned toward the soldiers with a gun during a downtown pursuit, authorities said.
The Guard members are part of a federal task force in Memphis created by President Donald Trump, who last year sent troops and federal agents to Democrat-run cities that he described as overrun with crime. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, had deployed the Guard to support the effort.
Authorities said the soldiers in Memphis were responding with local police to reports of gunshots around 4 a.m. when they began pursuing an armed man fleeing on foot. The guardsmen opened fire after the man turned toward them with his weapon, according to the city’s police department.
As far as I’m aware, there are zero laws regarding LEO-style bodycams that cover NG personnel in general. I’m less sure about dedicated MP units/personnel, but I would imagine they don’t either, because a meaningful portion of the domain of MPs work involves situations that include classified documents.equipment/etc, and there’s no way they would record any of that on a bodycam. Not to mention, MPs and NG and the military in general operate largely outside of the civil justice system, and are subject to the UCMJ instead.
When they make them act like police officers and patrol the streets they should make it a requirement that they wear them but I bet that will never happen. It really should though.
NG should never be made to act like police officers. Riot defense is (arguably) ok, but imo normal NG troops should NEVER be involved in actual law enforcement operations.