The Chamberlain Network Denounces the Use of the National Guard for Domestic Policing

Atlanta, GA – Yet another American city – this time Memphis – is about to see the National Guard arrive ostensibly to address a crime issue. The Chamberlain Network strongly condemns this dangerous trend of using the National Guard to address domestic crime issues. 

The National Guard is not trained to be the police. If the goal is to make our communities safer, this is not a viable, long term solution. Public safety work should be left to the experts: community leaders and police who are trained and actually know their neighborhoods. 

“Everyone wants safer communities,” says Chris Purdy, CEO of The Chamberlain Network, “but sending in the National Guard will not make us more safe.. Instead, these deployments escalate tensions and put families at risk.”

Communities don’t want soldiers patrolling their neighborhoods, and Guardsmen themselves did not sign up to be used as law enforcement. These deployments put our neighbors in uniform in an impossible position and erode the trust that makes them effective in real emergencies. Both the people of Memphis and the troops being sent there deserve better than to be caught up in a misuse of military power that undermines public safety rather than strengthens it.

We urge both the administration and U.S. governors to honor the National Guard by deploying it to address the challenges it is meant to tackle and to stop using it to solve crime in cities.