National Guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C., as part of President Donald Trump’s federal takeover could soon be armed, a White House official told . The Army said last week that Guard members would only carry weapons if necessary and would not be making arrests.

The shift comes after defense officials said the soldiers deployed to the capital wouldn’t be armed.

In New Mexico’s most populous city, National Guard troops are listening to the police dispatch calls, monitoring traffic cameras and helping to secure crime scene perimeters, tasks not usually part of the job.

A group is planning a protest Aug. 17 against Mike DeWine sending 150 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C.

Dressed in camouflage fatigues, National Guard troops patrolled areas of Washington Thursday, dispatched by President Donald Trump to police what he has called "out of control crime" in the city.

It’s a noticeably different situation than the chaotic one that prompted the biggest military callup in Washington since the Civil War – the 1968 riots following the assassination of civil rights leader the Rev.