Legion near Judea at time of Jesus

[Nathan Ross]

there was a centurion and roman troops which lead Jesus out to be crucified and actually did the crucifixion.

Although only four soldiers, apparently (if the number trying to divide the tunic is anything to go by!). Plus a centurion to oversee things. There's little suggestion that Pilate or his Roman troops had much fear of a major insurrection breaking out.

Pilate was very limited in his men, (5 cohorts & 1 cavalry regiment) so if a full scale rebellion happened, Pilate would be screwed!

There may have been more - and some of the cohorts could have been milliarian (thousand strong), as Cohors I Sebastenorum Milliaria was in later years. If there was no large-scale fighting, this number could have been sufficient to supervise a small province: later evidence (1st-2nd century) suggests that Cohors I Thracum was based at Hebron, with subunits at Mampsis, En Gedi and possibly Beth Guvrin. Deploying troops in smaller units scattered over a wide area like this would act as a deterrent to minor troublemakers, and would allow them to act in a paramilitary or policing role to keep the peace.

We know there was no large-scale fighting in Judea during this period - Tacitus (Histories 5.9) writes that sub Tiberio quies - "Under Tiberius, nothing happened"...