Washington: The US Capitol Police are struggling. One officer was killed and another injured when a driver slammed into them at a barricade Friday afternoon. The attack comes after officers were overrun and injured when a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters overran January 6 the Capitol. They broke through insufficient barriers and pushed their way to within steps of lawmakers. One officer died and another killed himself.
Scores of officers are considering early retirement, top leaders have resigned and those in office face increasing criticism. Security concerns over the events of the past four months may alter not only how the department operates, but also whether the historically public grounds can remain open.
The head of the Capitol Police union said officers are ‘reeling’ following the death Friday of Officer Billy Evans. He was on the force for 18 years. He was struck at a Capitol entrance by a man who, according to investigators, suffered from delusions and suicidal thoughts.
Evans’ death comes after Officer Brian Sicknick, who was among hundreds of officers trying to fight off rioters without the necessary equipment or planning, died following the January 6 riot. Officer Howard Liebengood died by suicide shortly afterward.
Hundreds of officers are considering retirement or finding jobs elsewhere, union chair Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement. “They continue to work even as we rapidly approach a crisis in morale and force numbers. The officers are dealing with massive amounts of forced overtime,” he added.
Dozens of officers were injured January 6. Others have been held out of work during an internal investigation into the department’s response, including the officer who fatally shot a 35-year-old woman attempting to climb through a broken window. That’s further depleted a force that has more than 200 vacant positions, roughly 10 per cent of its authorised force level.
In the months since the insurrection, many officers have routinely worked 12-hour days or longer to protect the building during Joe Biden’s January 20 inauguration.
“This rips the scab off and continues to provide a level of uncertainty and worry about the workplace and what’s happening there,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who chairs a subcommittee overseeing Capitol Police funding. “And I think this is very personal for so many of us who have come to really love and respect the Capitol Police even more than we already had, because of what they did January 6, and then immediately turning it around to make sure that the inauguration was safe.,” he added.