Capitol police’s internal watchdog on Thursday described in disturbing detail how officers were deplorably prepared for the January 6 uprising after leaders did not issue intelligence warnings and decided to provide more effective weapons to fight the violent crowd.
Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton, in a testimony before a House committee, highlighted two recent reports in which he noted numerous failures by top buyers, and called for major training and operations in the military to be reconsidered. find.
Bolton told lawmakers in the House Administration Committee that the Capitol Police leadership had chosen to use stronger weapons such as stabbing balls, fearing they would be misused and causing life-changing injuries or death amid the attack on the Capitol.
If these heavier weapons were used, Bolton said, it would have helped Capitol police get a “better attitude to fend off these attackers.”
“It would be very difficult to say that it would absolutely turn the tide, but it would definitely have given them a better chance of doing what they had to do,” he added.
Bolton’s two reports focused on the intelligence gathering operations of the Capitol police and the civil disruption unit responding to protest action. The Inspector General’s office is now delivering ‘flash reports’ every 30 days that are expected to cover other factors in the Capitol police’s response on January 6, including manpower use, training and K-9 units.
According to the reports, Capitol police could not ensure that an FBI bulletin warns of the threat of violence reaching members of the leadership before January 6th. According to the report, a Capitol police task force officer emailed the FBI Guardian Squad Task Force to the FBI. memorandum from an internal Capitol police internal mailing list “late in the evening” on Jan. 5, but neither then-Capitol police chief Steven Sund nor current acting chief Yogananda Pittman saw it in time.
Bolton said Capitol police need to upgrade its intelligence department to a full-scale bureau and ensure analysts are properly trained to manage intelligence on threats to the Capitol and members of Congress.
“We need an intelligence bureau. At the moment, it is considered an intelligence department. It must be a full service, a comprehensive agency, ‘Bolton said on Thursday.
His report further recommends that all Capitol Police employees receive security clearances and receive informed briefings on emerging threats and tactics.
But in response to questioning from rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) Confirmed to Bolton that the Inspector General of the Capitol Police had made the recommendation before – also in 2019 – just for the power to ignore it.
“A number of the recommendations of the previous reports have been made but not implemented,” Steil said in frustration.
About 140 Capitol and DC police officers were injured during the uprising, while one officer, Brian Sicknick, was killed. A second Capitol police officer, Howard Liebengood, died of suicide days later.
‘The Inspector General’s report confirms that the USCP leadership had available intelligence and did nothing about it. “They can try to blame the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security, but the leadership of USCP must take responsibility,” Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the Capitol Police Union, said on Thursday.
“Congress must hold these leaders accountable,” he added.
Other reforms Bolton is pursuing include making the Civil Disorder Unit a more attractive task within Capitol Police. His findings show that the unit has a reputation among officers as a less popular position and functions only on an ‘ad hoc’ basis.
Bolton proposed to pay extra dangers for officers serving in the unit as financial incentive and to make it a specially trained full-time assignment.
‘I firmly believe that when you create a specialized unit, a self-employed person, who receives the additional training, who receives the recommendation that they are, as you would say, professionalized, it will naturally attract others to want to become an elite. belongs to unity, ”Bolton said in response to questioning from Rep. Jamie Raskin
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The inspector general’s report found that the Capitol police could not ensure that the weapons stock was adequately maintained, leaving the officers without the necessary equipment to defend themselves against the violent crowd of insurgents.
According to the report, some of the riot screens of the Capitol police broke into contact because they were improperly stored in a trailer that was not climate-controlled. In addition, a platoon of the Civil Disturbance Unit did not have access to other riot shields stored in a bus because the door was locked. The peloton consequently had to respond to the crowd without any riotous shields.
“Training deficiencies put officers, our brave men and women, in a position of failure,” Bolton testified.
Congress is expected to use a spending package aimed at promoting Capitol’s security, but its timing is still unclear. In addition to Bolton’s reports, lawmakers are also reviewing recommendations from a team led by former Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré.
According to Honoré, more police officers need to be appointed and a retreat built around the Capitol that can be set up in emergency situations.
Legislators are expected to meet with Bolton again later to ask more questions about his reports and how Congress should act on them.
Chairman of the Home Administration Committee Zoe Lofgren
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