Comment Inside the U.S. Capitol Police command center, a handful of officers went through their early morning routines Friday, cycling through live feeds from the department’s 1,800 cameras used to monitor the nearby Capitol complex as well as points beyond. , when an officer stopped . In a display showing a dark road nearly 3,000 miles away, police lights flash outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), officials say. The D.C. police officer quickly pulled additional camera angles from Pelosi’s home and began backtracking, watching recordings from the minutes before San Francisco police arrived. There, on camera, was a man with a hammer who smashed a glass panel and entered the speaker’s home, according to three people familiar with how Capitol Police learned of the break-in and who were briefed on or saw the video themselves. The 911 call and ensuing fight inside the house led to charges of attempted murder of the speaker’s husband and attempted kidnapping of the speaker, who is second in line for the presidency. The incident has also highlighted the enormity — and perhaps the impossibility — of law enforcement’s duty to protect the 535 members of Congress at a time of an unprecedented number of threats against them. If Capitol Police were going to stop an attack on the home of any member of Congress, they had perhaps the best chance to do it at Pelosi’s, according to several current and former law enforcement officials, many of whom spoke to The Washington Post on of anonymity because the burglary remains under investigation. Accused attacker Pelosi’s track record shows blurred lines of radicalization Capitol Police first installed cameras around Pelosi’s home more than eight years ago. has a 24 hour security detail. and for many months after the January 6, 2021 attacks, a San Francisco police cruiser sat outside her home day and night. But hours after Pelosi left San Francisco last week and returned to D.C., much of the security left with her, and officers in Washington stopped constantly monitoring video feeds from outside her home. Targeted security and a lack of full-time, active surveillance—even at the home of the congressman with the most death threats— reflect the competing demands facing local and federal law enforcement agencies, and the balances lawmakers, their families and security officials have tried to strike in the nearly two years since the attack at the capitol. Capitol Police are working to implement more than 100 safety improvements recommended by outside experts, including improvements to officer training, equipment, protocols and staffing. But the department has simultaneously faced a tenfold increase in threats against members of Congress, who regularly return to their home districts and cross the country. In a statement Tuesday, Capitol Police Chief Tom Munger said that while improvements have been made — for example, the department is on track to hire 280 additional officers this year — the country’s “political climate” will require “additional levels of physical security”. .” Munger said the department would emphasize adding “layoffs” to measures already in place for congressional leaders, but would not describe them, saying they needed to remain confidential to be most effective. From the attack on Paul Pelosi, lawmakers have been in informal talks about including additional security measures in a government funding bill that must be passed before mid-December. Munger’s statement on Tuesday raised the stakes, but House Democrats and their aides acknowledged that lawmakers likely won’t make proposals until after the midterm elections. Threats to lawmakers are not rare, but they have increased dramatically in recent years. Since 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president, threats of violence against lawmakers recorded by Capitol Police have increased from about 900 cases in 2016 to 9,625 in 2021. Meanwhile, the percentage of threats that federal authorities pursue for criminal charges prosecution during the same period ranged from 7 percent to 17 percent of cases referred by the Capitol Police. Capitol Police twice made changes to member security — after the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and the 2017 shooting that targeted Republican lawmakers practicing for the annual congressional baseball game and seriously injured then the whip of the majority of the Parliament. Steve Scalise (La). After that shooting, lawmakers were allowed to spend up to $4,000 to install security systems in their district offices back home. In the months since January 6, 2021, House Democrats have repeatedly reminded leaders that their campaign funds were not enough to pay for personal security or upgrades to their homes. Congress, in turn, approved increases in office budgets for individual lawmakers — allowing them to pay for private security to help them at house events — and set aside nearly $5 million in a separate fund to allow security upgrades at their personal residences. Beginning Aug. 15, lawmakers received up to $10,000 to set up security systems in their homes. Lawmakers have been asked to work with security officials on Capitol Hill or with local police to install devices such as indoor and outdoor security cameras. motion sensors; push buttons; and window, door and broken glass screens.
The attack prompted lawmakers to share security tips On Monday morning, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.) heard from a friend who pleaded, “Don’t give out Halloween candy tonight.” The attack on Paul Pelosi rattled lawmakers on the Hill who had survived Jan. 6 and who had seen an escalation of the physical confrontation between Republicans and Democrats since then. But he also had friends and family worried about the lawmakers’ safety, even at home. After a threatening incident in her neighborhood weeks before the Jan. 6 attack, Escobar worked with Capitol Police to secure her home. But it didn’t stop her children from expressing concern Friday that they needed more. “It’s already a tough job. It’s certainly a privilege and an honor, but there are different issues to serve now than ever,” Escobar said. “I feel so guilty that the work I do causes them stress sometimes.” The attack on Pelosi caused a stir in a group text among Democrats holed up in the House chamber on Jan. 6. Many were distraught by the violence and sought solace. Members began sharing tips on what they had done to secure their personal assets, encouraging parents to post fewer photos of their children on social media to reduce the chances of identification, and sharing conversations they had with family in case their front is attacked. door. Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), who is in the midst of a tough re-election fight in a swing district, said Friday’s attack added stress to an already grueling campaign season. With such a focus on their campaigns, Wild said, “there’s no time to deal with upgrading our safety” at home, on the trail or legislatively. Some lawmakers understand it would be fiscally impossible to protect all 535 members of Congress, as that would require bolstering the already lagging Capitol police force, paying for those extra officers and coordinating with local police on a daily basis. Manger’s “urgent” call on Tuesday to calm the political climate comes as his police force is staffed far below recommended levels to provide the kind of protection needed for lawmakers, both in Washington and across the country. the country. Manger said Capitol Police are on track to meet their goal of hiring 280 more officers by the end of the year and continue that pace next year. The department now has just over 1,900 officers, slightly more than it had on Jan. 6, but that’s a fraction of what it needs, according to some estimates. An outside review ordered by Pelosi shortly after the January 2021 attack found that there were more than 230 vacancies in the two months after the riot and recommended that the Capitol Police eventually increase the size of its force by about 850 officers. That would take years, given that about 100 officers leave or retire each year, and the force now accepts only about 1 in 16 applicants. The result is an already incredibly thin police force that needs more personnel to properly secure the nearly 60-acre Capitol campus and provide 24-hour protection for the growing number of lawmakers who face serious threats of violence. Congress bumped the Capitol Police budget from $516 million for 2021 to a recommended $708 million for 2023, according to the House Appropriations Committee. After the midterm elections, lawmakers may debate how much more money is needed after Congress approved about $1 billion in emergency funding in the summer of 2021 to ramp up security around the Capitol. Whether security is extended at any time to members of the leadership’s family or their homes is also likely to be discussed, according to aides familiar with what could be discussed when members return. Lawmakers praised Capitol Police for reaching out whenever they asked for tips in recent years. In the days after the attack on Paul Pelosi, senior congressional aides and Manger reminded worried lawmakers of the resources available to them for personal security at home and for their district offices. Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and a survivor of the 2017 shooting, when asked if more funding is needed, said it’s the job of leaders, more than ever, to notify members of what is available to them. “Democrats must work with the…
