Gov Newsom, the National Guard, and SF?

 I sat and read through a piece.....that Governor Newsom of California.....has authorized a activation of California National Guard folks....to help the police in SF.  

So, you start to ask questions.

How many?  Unknown (oddly left out of the news piece).  I would assume it's probably in the range of sixty to a hundred folks.  

Where it comes from?  In the state....the 49th Brigade is a MP-only organization....located out of Fairfield, California. I would assume they got the order.

What exactly would they be doing?  I can only see two scenarios.  First, they might be paired up with SF police (1 and 1).....to carry out patrols for a period of time.  Second, they might be there to just present the resemblance of military folks in uniform....on walk-patrols.

Armed?  I just can't see the Governor approving or allowing this to happen.

How long?  Well....you have to pay these guys, and for each month....for a hundred, by the time you give them their regular duty pay, house them in some hotel, and feed them....you would be talking about around a half-million.  So 90 to 120 days is the max I see this running.  

The look around SF....that you have military people on patrol?  It'd be a scene out of some Judge Dredd movie.  

Even if they arrest people.....charges won't stick because of the local prosecutor, and after two months of that kind of non-action....the Guard guys would openly talk about the stupidity of doing duty in SF.  

These MPs shocked over the duty?  I'd say no...here's the one odd factor.  If you went down the list of guys on the 49th...I would assume that 90-percent are currently real cops or security guys....in their normal day-to-day routine.  It wouldn't shock me if most all of them have done duty in Iraq or Afghanistan in their career.

This might be interesting to watch play out.