LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. military troops deployed to Los Angeles are allowed to temporarily detain individuals until law enforcement agents arrive to arrest them, a senior U.S. military official said on Wednesday.
Major General Scott Sherman, who is leading the deployment of 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines, said the troops did not have the authority to arrest individuals.
“These soldiers do not conduct law enforcement operations like arrests or search and seizure. They are strictly used for the protection of the federal personnel as they conduct their operations and to protect them to allow them to do their federal mission,” Sherman said.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Sherman’s comments reflect regular rules of engagement, which allows troops to temporarily detain individuals if they pose a threat to federal property or personnel. The official said it did not reflect an expansion of authorities.
The Marines are trained to use their weapons for personal protection but their rifles would not be loaded with live ammunition during the deployment, Sherman said.
“Not in their rifle,” he said, when asked whether rifles would carry live ammunition.
The Marines are taking a two-day training course on how to handle civil disturbances, Sherman said.
He added that the Marines would not be deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Wednesday, but they would be there “soon.”
(Reporting by Omar Younis in Los Angeles and Idrees Ali and Katharine Jackson in Washington D.C., Editing by Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)
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