Capitol Police

[fabrisse]

I live in the District. While protesting for DC Statehood, I was arrested by the Capitol Police. This gives me -- and my research as part of my ANC duties -- some insight into what happened on Wednesday.

The first thing everyone needs to understand is that DC police (MPD for Metropolitan Police Department) has no jurisdiction on Federal land. None. Without a specific invitation, MPD can do nothing on the National Mall, Lafayette Square, White House grounds, or the Capitol grounds. DC has no options in this. MPD can only set foot on capitol grounds with an express invitation from the Capitol Police or from the legislators themselves.

This is why several national news outlets mentioned FBI police, ATF, and other agency police at the Capitol building, but not MPD. Federal police, whichever agency they belong to, can help without an express invitation. The Capitol Police work more closely with the Park Rangers on the National Mall than they do with most DC based law enforcement.

It's also why you saw MPD maintaining the exterior cordon in the late afternoon and early evening after their help had been requested.

Next, Capitol Police is a very small group (I'd be surprised if there were more than 200 total, probably closer to 100) -- apparently, per comments below, the size is closer to 1500+. I know their shifts aren't huge unless something major is expected. Their very clean and pleasant station has two cells and probably isn't any larger than 2000 square feet, about 2.5 times the size of my apartment. Capitol Police are trained to be patient with protesters and answer questions from tourists. Even though they have clubs and riot gear, they don't often need to use them. They were not part of the line at Lafayette Park when tear gas was used, for instance.

Lastly, only the mayor can call in the DC National Guard. Mayor Bowser offered the Capitol Police the DC National Guard early in the afternoon. Not knowing what was going to happen, the Capitol Police turned her down. She did put the National Guard on alert so, when Capitol Police or legislators asked for them [eta: Mike Pence personally called them in], they were ready to go relatively quickly.

For major protests, which this wasn't expected to be, advance planning, usually including MPD, is performed. I'm certain there was already a plan for all the various polices to work together for the inauguration, as an example.

Should this have been handled better? Absolutely. But this debacle doesn't rest entirely on the Capitol Police; it rests on the inspiration to sedition from the president and on the legislators and others who abetted him.

Comments

[temve]

Thank you for this insight - that helps me get more of a perspective of what happened and where the disconnects and fuck-ups were. Still can't wait for the President to stop being President!

[lightbird]

Here from thisfinecrew. Thank you very much for providing this clarification.

[sea_changed]

As someone who isn’t from DC, this is a really useful perspective to get. Though it appears that this was expected to be a major protest—both the National Guard and the FBI offered help to the Capitol Police, who turned it down. (Source) So I remain somewhat baffled by the CP’s choices.

[siderea]

Great clarification, thanks!

ETA: I would like to either quote entire or link to here. Would one of those be acceptable to you, and if so which would you prefer?

[duskpeterson]

Thank you for all this helpful insight! It was especially interesting to hear about the Capitol Police's cells.

Just a couple of things:

I believe that the Capitol Police may be somewhat larger than you say; their total force (officers and civilians) is 2,300, according to their website. The Washington Post describes their police force as "city-sized."

I'm also under the impression, from what I've been reading in the Post and elsewhere, that the mayor does *not* have control over the DC National Guard, since DC isn't a state.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_National_Guard

Officially, the US President controls the DC National Guard, but he delegates that duty to the Department of Defense. Not surprisingly, Mayor Bowser finds this situation (President Trump having control over the city's troops) to be highly alarming and has been using the latest attack as an opportunity to press once more for DC statehood. Which you folks totally deserve. :)

Dusk (a Marylander who grew up outside DC)

[ilyena_sylph]

This is a super interesting post, thank you!

Wiki and news sources say the Capitol Police have +2,200 staff, though?

[impala_chick]

I was aware of the jurisdictional issues for the DC Police, but I did not understand that capital police are different. The videos that show the officers being overwhelmed outside the capitol steps look like mostly capitol police? Seemed like they didn't have firearms, just clubs.

[jazzyjj]

Thanks a million for posting this. I had no idea this was the case. What happened on Wednesday was a total disgrace. My brother lives not far from DC, and I'm curious to get his take on this whole thing. I've been closely monitoring things on CNN and some other media outlets, as have my parents. This also seems to have been the talk of my apartment building over the past few days. I for one, cannot wait for Joe and Kamala to take office!