Holcomb Relies On Local Leaders To Request State Police, National Guard Support

Gov. Eric Holcomb says the Indiana State Police and National Guard are ready to deploy to any community around the state that requests assistance. 

Holcomb says the National Guard was used over the weekend to protect state properties amid violence from a few who sought to co-opt protests over racial injustice and police brutality, particularly against black Americans.

State Police troopers were sent to more than a dozen cities around the state to support local law enforcement.

Holcomb says he’s relying on local officials to request that support.

“They need to know that we are pouring in all of the resources available to meet those flashpoints,” Holcomb says.

Holcomb says the continued presence of the National Guard at state properties will be determined on a “day-by-day” basis.

Holcomb largely praised those who protested peacefully over the weekend in response to the “disgusting, gross, violent and fatal injustice” against George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis last week when a white police officer pinned Floyd to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck.

"It saddens me that their hearts and minds have hardened and their anger demonstrates itself through destructive behavior designed to instill fear in the innocent," Holcomb says.