The Failure of Law Enforcement in the Storming of the Capitol

Note: the research for this article was done for work with Rock the Vote. A similar article will be posted on Rock the Vote's Medium page in a week or so, at which point I'll update this post with a link to it. I haven't posted on here in a while, and wanted to show what I've been working on in the meantime!

On January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump incited a riot at the U.S. Capitol and initially refused to activate the D.C. National Guard to secure the building. In the wake of the attack against our country, Americans and government officials alike scrambled for an explanation for the law enforcement failure – beginning with the Capitol police – to shut down the violence and destruction. It took several hours before the insurrectionists were cleared from the Capitol building. By the end of the day, police had only made around a dozen arrests.

During the Black Lives Matter protests in D.C. in the summer of 2020, then-President Trump ordered several law enforcement agencies to clear protesters from an area in front of St. John’s Church for a photo op. These agencies included the Secret Service, US Park Police (including their SWAT team), DC National Guard, and members of the Bureau of Prisons Special Operations Response Team. D.C. and Arlington County police officers were also present and collaborating with the federal officers.

There is a stark contract between the swift and coordinated actions by law enforcement agencies to clear Black Lives Matters protestors and the utter failure of these same agencies to protect our seat of government from a violent mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists.

Where were the reinforcements? And who could have come to help?

Which law enforcement agencies in Washington D.C. are under local control?

Both the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the Department of General Services’ Protective Services Division (PSD) fall under D.C. government control. MPD’s 3,851 sworn members work under their Chief of Police and the Mayor of D.C. Their jurisdiction covers 68 square miles and 700,000 D.C. residents. MPD is the closest equivalent to your local police department.

The PSD is specifically tasked with the protection of DC municipal buildings and the people and resources within them. The PSD also assists both federal and municipal law enforcement in “special events and criminal investigations.”

Which law enforcement agencies in Washington D.C. are under federal control?

The several federal agencies operating in D.C. are not under the discretion of the D.C. Mayor. First, U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal agency that has more than 2,000 officers. The Capitol Police’s jurisdiction covers the U.S. Capitol Complex and since 1992 has shared jurisdiction of the land surrounding it with the Metropolitan police. The Capitol Police Board and US House and Senate Appropriations and Authorizing Committees jointly authorize and oversee the Capitol Police.

A bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Service serves as “the enforcement arm of the federal courts.” In the 1960s, the U.S. Marshals helped uphold the 14th and 15th amendments in escorting Black students to integrate schools, and current day protecting the Strategic National Stockpile and the main U.S. research station in Antarctica.

While the Capitol Police are tasked with protecting the Capitol, U.S. Park Police (USPP) are in charge of the National Mall, including the national monuments. They have primary jurisdiction within all federal parks across the country. In Washington, D.C. USPP Officers have the same powers and duties as the D.C. Metropolitan Police. In fact, the USPP permanently stations 300 officers in D.C. and, according to Buzzfeed, “typically serves as the frontline law enforcement agency during protests and demonstrations in the National Mall and outside the White House.”

The U.S. Secret Service is specifically tasked with protecting our nation’s highest elected leaders, visiting foreign heads of state, and national special security events. Additionally, their Uniformed Division secures and protects buildings that their protectees find themselves in, such as the White House and the Capitol. Secret Service jurisdiction is unique in that it covers individuals rather than physical spaces.

The D.C. National Guard (DCNG) is the official “protector of the District of Columbia.” While current U.S. presidents serve as commander-in-chief for the DCNG, they exercise their authority through the Secretary of Defense.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has its own uniformed police: the Federal Protective Services (FPS). They protect the physical buildings and property of the federal government, and their official mission statement is “to prevent, protect, respond to and recover from terrorism, criminal acts, and other hazards threatening the U.S. Government’s critical infrastructure, services, and the people who provide or receive them.”

Finally, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) works to prevent terrorism - both domestic and international. Its jurisdiction specifically covers violence towards U.S. officials. The Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence jointly oversee the FBI. The Bureau is investigating the January 6 insurrection and tracking down the participants in what they call the “Capitol violence.” Read more about this here.

Whose jurisdiction covered insurrection at the Capitol Building?

Which of these agencies came to the aid on January 6, 2020?

By looking at incoming bus reservations, DC officials estimated “a stadium-sized crowd” would come to the pro-Trump rally. The day before the protests, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser assured the Department of the Army and Department of Defense that the MPD was covered for January 6 with support from the Capitol Police, Park Police, and the Secret Service. USPP Officers were called in from New York in preparation for the unrest of January 6. She requested a minimal presence by the D.C. National Guard of “340 [unarmed] personnel to help with traffic and crowd management and another 40 in the quick reaction force.”

According to Vox, “Save for a midnight shift change, the entire Capitol Police force — around 1,500 officers — was on duty Wednesday.” They were supported by 1,000 MPD officers in the area. Additionally, 50 Homeland Security officers working in a FPS capacity stood by in the Ronald Reagan Building just over a mile from the Capitol Building. USPP SWAT members were also stationed near the Capitol and the Ellipse.

12 p.m. - Former President Trump began his speech at the Ellipse. By 12:30 p.m., crowds had already begun surrounding the Capitol Building and Park Police reinforcements were already being called in to help their overwhelmed colleagues. At 1:10 p.m., the former president finished his inflammatory speech, directing those present to march to the Capitol building.

2:12 p.m. - The first rioter entered the building through a broken window. The U.S. Secret Service HQ immediately “sent out an emergency alert to all gun-carrying Secret Service personnel to report to headquarters in preparation to help secure the Capitol.” At 2:27 p.m., an urgent request for help came over the police mutual aid radio system for the Washington, D.C. region. The FBI responded with agents from its Washington Field Office sent in a Special Response Team and agents from its Washington and Baltimore field offices, as did the ATF - the federal agency tasked with responding to alcohol, tobacco, and firearm-related crimes.

The Capitol Police and Secret Service were holding a line inside the Capitol building arm in arm, according to a journalist’s Tweet at 2:30 p.m.

3:52 p.m. - Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman tweeted that the National Guard had been mobilized and that the DOJ would take over the law enforcement response. State national guards were also deployed from the neighboring states of Virginia (at 3:30pm), Maryland (at 3:47pm), and New Jersey (at 4:57pm).

5:40 p.m. - 154 members of the DC National Guard arrived at the Capitol Building, at which time other federal agencies aided their efforts in establishing the security perimeter at 5:45 p.m. Federally-deputized Fairfax County officers helped remove the insurrectionists from the building while other federal officers reestablished a security perimeter.

Why did these law enforcement agencies not complete their legally mandated duty?

Beyond rebuffing reinforcements in the days leading up to the attempted coup, the Capitol Police additionally refused the FBI’s offer of aid “as the mob descended.” The Capitol Police, according to a law enforcement official quoted by the Washington Post, “didn’t expect Trump to incite them and that they would forcefully push their way in. Bottom line, there just wasn’t enough personnel to prevent a mob from pushing in.”

The Capitol Police’s struggles were compounded by the lack of support of the D.C. National Guard. While officers’ jurisdiction usually covers reacting to urgent, dangerous situations when there isn’t time to get approval from headquarters, the Pentagon removed that authority from the DCNG in preparation for the January 6 rally. Their role was limited to traffic control and crowd management due to the recent memory of media backlash to their response to BLM protests in D.C. in June.

The Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund asked the commanding general of the DCNG beforehand if the D.C. National Guard could be at the ready if needed. Given the Pentagon’s move, Sund would have had to file a formal request, which he did not until 1:49 p.m. the day of. The request took an hour and fifteen minutes to work through the bureaucratic process and get approved by the Pentagon, and another hour and a half for the D.C. Guard to be authorized by the acting defense secretary to move in. It was not until 5:30 p.m. that members of the DCNG arrived at the Capitol to aid the establishment of a security perimeter.

Compounding these failures, the Park Police were only able to send a small number of officers to the Capitol because of ongoing attacks on national monuments that were their primary responsibility. 200 officers were assigned to “patrol the protests,” but the USPP were unable to give additional reinforcements due to this split responsibility (as well as chronic understaffing and underfunding). The readied Homeland Security officers working under the FPS were never called on by the Capitol Police.

So, what happened?

Despite the assurances of the mayor, the Capitol Police with its reinforcements were vastly outnumbered and overrun. Estimates of the number of insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6 range from “thousands” to “tens of thousands.” The Washington Post reported that around 800 people breached the Capitol building.

Officers were forced to allow rioters who breached the Capitol walk away due to their outnumbered state. Their first priority was to protect members of Congress, and there were not enough officers to also make arrests.

In a closed House session, heads of various law enforcement agencies testified about their reactions to the January 6 Capitol violence. Agencies represented were the DOA, DOJ, MPD, DCNG, Secret Service, Park Police, FBI, and the DC U.S. Attorney. While all accepted some fault, they mostly blamed each other.