WASHINGTON (AP) – The US Capitol Police are fighting.
One officer was killed and another injured when a driver hit a barricade Friday afternoon. The attack comes after police officers were run over and injured when a violent crowd of Trump supporters invaded the Capitol on January 6, breaking down insufficient barriers and paving the way for lawmakers. One officer died and another killed himself.
Dozens of officers are considering early retirement, top leaders have resigned and those in office face mounting criticism. Security concerns about events in the past four months can change not only the way the department operates, but whether historically public motives can remain open.
The head of the Capitol Police union said the officers were “reeling” after the death on Friday of police officer Billy Evans, who had been in the force for 18 years.. He was hit at the entrance to the Capitol by a man who, according to investigators, suffered from delusions and suicidal thoughts.
Evans’ death occurs after police officer Brian Sicknick, who was among hundreds of police officers trying to fight the rioters without the necessary equipment or planning, died after the January 6 riot. Officer Howard Liebengood died of suicide shortly afterwards.
Hundreds of officers are considering retiring or finding jobs elsewhere, union president Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement. “They continue to work even as we quickly approach a crisis in morale and numbers of forces,” he said, noting that police officers are dealing with “large amounts of forced overtime.”
Dozens of police officers were injured on January 6 and others were kept out of work during an internal investigation into the department’s response, including the police officer who shot a 35-year-old woman while she and others were crowding in a locked door. This further depleted a force that has more than 200 vacant positions, about 10% of its authorized strength level.
In the months since the insurrection, many officers have routinely worked 12 hours a day or more to protect the building during Biden’s January 20 inauguration and impeachment proceedings against Trump.
“It rips the shell off and continues to provide a level of uncertainty and concern about the workplace and what’s going on there,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who chairs a subcommittee that oversees Capitol Police funding. . “And I think this is very personal to many of us who really love and respect the Capitol Police even more than we already did, because of what they did on January 6, and immediately changing the subject to make sure that opening was safe. “
Acting chief Yogananda Pittman received a vote of censure from the union in February, reflecting widespread distrust among the grassroots. Pittman was an assistant chief in charge of intelligence during the riot and admitted that he had not seen an FBI assessment the day before the Capitol “war” warning.
Steven Sund, who resigned in January as head of the agency amid investigations into whether the police force was adequately prepared for the riot, told the Associated Press that the officers he spoke to were “nervous”.
The pain and crises that engulfed the Capitol Police are also part of broader social forces that have tested the country, Sund said.
“There is an impact of the pandemic on the American psyche,” said Sund. “There is a lot on social media and a lot of action in reference to law enforcement actions. Police authorities were attacked in cities across the country. So there are a lot of things getting ready to make 2020, 2021 a little bit unique. “
The Capitol Police is not a typical law enforcement agency. The approximately 2,000 officers are solely responsible for protecting Congress – its members, visitors and facilities, an area of about 16 acres.
The department dates back to the early 1800s, after President John Quincy Adams asked for a police force to be created to help protect the building after the incidents there. They now have an operating budget of $ 460 million.
The driver of Friday’s incident, 25-year-old Noah Green, was shot by police officers shortly after emerging from the vehicle with a knife, officials said. Green later died in a hospital. There is no known connection between the insurrection and Green, who described himself in online posts as being under government control and being watched.
New concrete barriers were placed around the checkpoint where Evans and a colleague were standing guard north of the Capitol. But the attack underscores that the Capitol will always be a target, said retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré, who chaired a task force. who made several security recommendations after the insurrection.
“It is the most important building in America, because it is the seat of our democracy,” Honoré told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday. “If that building and the people in it don’t work, we won’t have democracy anymore. And whatever the price we have to pay to protect it, we need to do it. “
The task force called for renewed momentum to fill the 233 open positions in the force and for Congress to finance 350 new jobs and new fencing systems and other infrastructure. The task force also wants Congress to give the Capitol Police Chief new authority to seek support from the National Guard in a crisis. Sund claimed that the three-member Capitol Police Council leaders delayed their requests for help from the Guard on January 6, which the former council members denied.
Papathanasiou, the union president, said he supports Honoré’s recommendations and met with him and his team on Thursday, the day before Evans’s death.
“As I explained to him, these improvements are critical, but our first priority has to be to retain our existing officers,” said Papathanasiou. “There are immediate steps that Congress can take to resolve this.”
Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat from Virginia, has been in contact with the Liebengood family since her death. She called for a program to encourage “peer-to-peer” discussions among police officers about the trauma they suffered apart from the mental health professionals called to meet with the police.
“I just want to make sure that we are taking care of the Capitol police, because that is the only constant in all of this,” she said. “Whatever we do, the first thing to do is not a physical structure, it is to ensure that we are taking care of the police.”
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The merchant reported from Houston. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.