How long could massive law enforcement effort remain downtown?

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    SACRAMENTO, CA (KOVR) — It’s now been five days of armed troops on the streets of Sacramento with national guard soldiers guarding the capitol, state, and federal buildings. The armed forces showed a larger presence than protestors on Inauguration Day.

“It’s an important lesson that you can never be too prepared,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

Necessary steps according to Steinberg to protect the capital and those who live in its city from possible violence.

“For these several days especially given what happened in Washington DC on the 6th of January, I do think it was appropriate and the precautions were appropriate,” explained Steinberg.

Enhanced law enforcement only came against non-violent crowds Wednesday.

“The juggling act is evaluating your intelligence, looking at how big of a response you want to have and then deciding, it wasn’t that really big of a response so we are going to start pairing this down explained retired Sacramento PD lieutenant John Kane.”

Kane said having officers stand down won’t happen overnight.

“That’s not an instant snap of the fingers, this is a giant logistical problem,” explained Kane. “The rough outline for something like that would be over a period from anywhere from three days to seven days,” he estimated.

Kane said officers can’t abandon their post too soon with the risk of rioters.

“Those officers are hopefully still there and able to handle that large scale event,” he said.

As the energy surrounding the Inauguration dies down, Mayor Steinberg is hoping downtown will get back to normal.

“I certainly do not want to see that fence which was a necessity as a permanent or long-term part of the capitol. It’s not what we want and it won’t be. The capitol is the people’s place and it will be again,” he said.

Protests since the beginning of 2021 have cost Sacramento PD more than $616,887 with included overtime.

The state’s Office of Emergency Services tells CBS13 they are constantly evaluating to determine the type of force that is appropriate to
protect the public. The state would not comment on a timeline of when the national guard will leave the area.

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