The Capitol Police Union attacked the department’s leadership the day after the testimony in Congress of Acting Delegate Yogananda Pittman, who said the department knew two days before January 6 that there was a “strong potential for violence and that the Congress was the target “.
“The disclosure that the entire executive team (former Chief [Steven] Sund, now acting chief Pittman and assistant chief [Chad] Thomas) knew what was coming, but did not prepare us better for the potential violence, including the possible use of firearms against us, is unfair, “said union president Gus Papathanasiou in a statement on Wednesday.
He said it was “unforgivable” that no one had passed this on to officers before the insurrection.
The acting chief of the US Capitol Police apologized to lawmakers during Tuesday’s hearing for not being prepared for the attack.
“Let me be clear: the Department should be better prepared for this attack,” said police chief Yogananda Pittman in written testimony to the House Appropriations Committee obtained by ABC News.
“I am here to offer my sincerest apologies on behalf of the Department,” she said in the comments.
The Metropolitan Police Department’s acting chief of police, Robert Contee, who ordered more than 1,000 of his officers to help defend the Capitol, gave his own testimony at the closed-door parliamentary hearing, telling the committee: “This attack on the Capitol exposed security weaknesses in the country’s safest city. “
The unprecedented attack caused the police to “fight a literal battle for hours,” said Contee. “Law enforcement training does not anticipate or prepare for hours of hand-to-hand combat.”
The deaths of three US Capitol officers in January – one from cancer before the riot, one from a riot wound and one from suicide after the uprising – and the removal of Sund, who was considered by many to be a police officer who took care of his policemen caused anguish in the police of 2,000 people.
“Now is a time when we need unity,” Andy Maybo, a Capitol police officer and former president of the Capitol Police Union, told ABC News. “Now is the time to get together, point fingers and blame will not correct the problem at hand.”
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault – from the Capitol Police, from Steve Sund to the newest agency officer,” said Maybo.
The president said that some of his officers suffered horrific injuries in the Jan. 6 siege.
“I have police officers who did not receive helmets before the attack and who suffered brain injuries. An officer has two broken ribs and two broken spinal discs, ”wrote Papathanasiou. “One officer is going to lose his eye and another was stabbed with a metal fence post.”
Maybo emphasized that the Capitol Police mission – to protect members and staff – was carried out on January 6.
“The officers knew how to put their lives on the property, so when people were breaking windows or doors, it didn’t matter, as long as parliamentarians, senators, the vice president and officials were protected,” he explained.
Pittman also indicated in his testimony that on January 4, two days before the insurrection, Sund asked the Capitol Police Board, which oversees the department, to “declare a state of emergency and authorize a request to secure National Guard support.” That request, said Pittman, was denied.
Capitol architect and member of the Capitol Police Council, J. Brett Blanton, said in a statement on Tuesday that his office has no record of such an order.
Even while the riot was underway, Contee testified that he was “surprised by the Army Department’s lukewarm response” and “shocked that the National Guard could not – or would not” respond quickly to Sund’s request to send forces to the Capitol in part because they “didn’t like the look of the boots on the Capitol floor.”
For officers like Maybo, Sund’s removal was too quick.
“Chief Sund should never have resigned, the mayor should never have asked for his resignation, especially in light of the fact that he was begging for help, begging for help from the National Guard,” said Maybo.