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Los Angeles riot: LAPD declares citywide tactical alert amid anti-ICE protests - What does it mean?
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared a citywide tactical alert on Sunday
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared a citywide tactical alert on Sunday in response to escalating anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid protests in the city.
“The City of Los Angeles is on Tactical Alert,” the LAPD said on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
What does LAPD's tactical alert mean?
According to Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, a tactical alert ‘is the preliminary step to personnel mobilization. It includes the controlled redistribution of on-duty personnel’.
“A Tactical Alert may be initiated in selected Stations/Units, all Stations or any Department facility,” the department adds.
The alert ensures sufficient officer availability by extending shifts, canceling leaves, and prioritizing urgent calls (Code 2 and 3, involving lights/sirens or felonies), while non-urgent calls, like business disputes, are deferred.
This comes a day after National Guard troops were deployed in LA as protestors marched against the ICE raids in the city. Several rioters confronted troops in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where several of the newly arrived National Guard troops stood shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields.
Video showed uniformed officers shooting off the smoke-filled canisters as they advanced into the street, forcing protesters to retreat.
Deployment follows days of protest
The deployment followed two days of protests that began Friday. Governor Gavin Newsom accused Trump of a ‘complete overreaction’ designed to create a spectacle of force.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday: “We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.” He, however, didn’t elaborate.
“If officials stay in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges,” Trump said.
