National Guard help to keep order in BR

• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Sep 7, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Diesel engines rumbling, a convoy of Army Humvees rolled through dark, Gustav-battered Baton Rouge neighborhoods for the third night Friday, the smell of rotting garbage and generator exhaust wafting into the vehicles.

An unmarked Baton Rouge Police truck driven by an undercover narcotics detective familiar with the city’s more troubled spots led the three Humvees on a mission to enforce the parish’s 10 p.m. curfew and curb looting.

Three “presence patrols,” as they have been dubbed by the National Guard, have been moving through three areas of the parish in 12-hour shifts since Wednesday and could continue through Sept. 11, said Capt. Colby Tippens, 29.

The patrols are staffed by 105 guardsmen with the 2nd Squadron of the 278th Armored Cavalry Division of the Tennessee National Guard, based out of Knoxville, Tippens said.

Another 108 Tennessee guardsmen came to help distribute Meals Ready to Eat and other humanitarian aid in the parish, Tippens said.
Sheriff’s deputies have been escorting patrols to Gardere Lane and Industriplex Boulevard while BRPD officers have led trips inside Baton Rouge’s city limits, Tippens said.

The soldiers were called up two weeks into their yearly three-week training in Camp Shelby, Miss., to help Louisiana recover from Hurricane Gustav. They have been staying at Southern University’s F.G. Clark Center, Tippens said.

Clad in desert tan fatigues and combat boots, 12 guardsman carrying M4 and M16 assault rifles pour out of the Humvees and provide an intimidating backup to the police officer each time the convoy stops to investigate something.

While the National Guard has maintained a visible nighttime security presence in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, such patrols are foreign to Baton Rouge and wherever the convoy went Friday, those who encountered it gawked and snapped cell phone photos.

“The police keep telling us ‘if it was just us, we wouldn’t get respect, but they respect the Humvees and the assault rifles,’” Lt. John West, 22, said Friday.

Unless in immediate danger, the guardsmen are required to keep the magazines to their rifles in their pockets, West said.

“Our main mission is to show that we’re here, and that they need to follow the laws,” he said.

On the evening’s first pit stop at a convenience store on Perkins Road, civilians buzzed around an hour and a half before curfew, buying chips and beer.

Upon entering the store, the guardsmen made a beeline for energy drinks and tobacco.