PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Several hundred Pennsylvania National Guardsmen are being deployed to Philadelphia to assist authorities during the period of civil unrest that has followed the death of Walter Wallace Jr.
The National Guard is currently working with city officials on how to make best use of the National Guardsmen when they come to town, according to Lt. Col. Keith Hickox.
He said they'll most likely do a lot of the same work they did when they were deployed to Philadelphia earlier this year to assist with protesting, rioting and looting.
“It will probably be more about securing locations, but that all depends on the need working with local Philadelphia agencies to determine what the greatest need is,” he explained.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said the National Guard provided invaluable service during their deployment to the city during the unrest in the summer.
“They were able to free up Philadelphia police officers to do the actual law enforcement work in the neighborhoods,” Kenney said.
As of now, they have no specific orders or missions when it comes to helping the city with elections on Tuesday.
“Save cyber security. We've provided cyber security experts to the Department of State and our counties for network security,” Kenney said.
Hickox could not give a specific time or day when the National Guard would arrive in Philadelphia.