DeWine extends National Guard to Washington, D.C.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has extended the Ohio National Guard’s mission to Washington, D.C. for more than two more months.

In a press release on Wednesday, the governor’s office said it agreed to a request from the Secretary of the Army to keep Ohio guardsmen in Washington until Nov. 30.

“While some of the Ohio National Guard members will be rotated, Ohio will continue to provide 150 military police to carry out presence patrols,” the office wrote in the press release.

DeWine announced the deployment in mid-August as part of President Donald Trump’s “crime emergency” in Washington.

Since the deployment, Trump has touted lower violent crime rates in the city, and has proposed sending more guard members into other Democratic-run cities like New Orleans, Baltimore and Chicago.

DeWine’s office said none of the Ohio guardsmen deployed to Washington are working as law enforcement officers in Ohio.