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The union representing the United States Capitol Police officers on Wednesday reprimanded senior department officials, saying management failed to pass key information to officers before the January 6 riot that left behind cops seriously injured in the brain, and one who will lose an eye.
Capitol Police Labor Committee Chairman Gus Papathanasiou responded in a statement to what he described as a “surprising admission” made by Chief Yogananda D. Pittman to the House Appropriations Committee, which “angered and shocked the base officers”.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Pittman said information available as early as Jan. 4 indicated that the event in Washington, DC on Jan. 6 “would not be like any of the previous protests held in 2020,” admitting the department was aware . “White supremacist militias and organizations would be present,” some of these participants “intended to bring firearms and other weapons” to the event, and “there was a high potential for violence and Congress was the target “.
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“The fact that they did not pass this information on to duty officers before the insurgency is inexcusable,” Papathanasiou said. “The officers are angry and I don’t blame them. The whole management team has let us down and they must be held accountable. Their inaction has cost lives.”
Pittman “cites radio communications as a problem during the riots, but the real communications breakdown was the silence of our leaders, before the insurgency and while it was in progress,” Papathanasiou said. “They didn’t share key information with the officers in advance, they failed to prepare adequately, they failed to equip our officers with a plan and that day they failed to lead. “
“It was not a ‘whole department’ failure, but a leadership failure,” he said.
Nearly 140 police officers – between the United States Capitol Police and the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) – were injured in the incident on January 6. Papathanasiou said police officers who “did not receive helmets before the attack” suffered brain damage. One officer has “two cracked ribs and two broken spinal discs”, and one officer “is going to lose his eye, and another was stabbed with a metal fence stake,” he said.
“We have a policeman who lost his life as a direct result of the insurgency. Another officer tragically committed suicide,” he added, referring to Capitol Hill policeman Brian Sicknick who died in hospital from injuries sustained while “physically engaging” with rioters and fellow Capitol Hill police officer Howard Liebengood, who committed suicide days after responding to the incident on January 6.
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A second officer suicide was announced on Tuesday – Jeffery Smith of the DC Metropolitan Police Department, who also committed suicide in the days following the insurgency.
Speaking to Fox News about the injuries, Papathanasiou said he blamed the police chiefs “who took away our riot helmets and gas masks weeks and months ago.” He said he believed it was an MPD officer who had been injured in the eye, and “would also add that the union has addressed the issue of helmets in writing, as well as in formal meetings, and the chiefs ignored us altogether.
In his long statement Responding to Pittman’s testimony, Papathanasiou said the entire management team – made up of Pittman, former chef Steven Sund and deputy chef Chad B. Thomas – “knew what was going to happen but didn’t get us better. prepared for possible violence, including the possible use of firearms against us, is unacceptable. ”
“Our union has long advocated for more training, more staff and better equipment, to be repeatedly ignored by our leaders,” he said. “Yet interim leader Pittman now blames these glaring inadequacies for contributing to the failure to protect the Capitol on January 6.”
The union leader called on Congress to recognize that leaders already exist within the department – “some of whom fought side by side with officers during the insurgency” – who are capable of implementing the necessary changes, but “These leaders do not exist at the Chief of the Deputy Chief level, maybe the Deputy Chief level,” he said.
The next leader should not be recruited from outside the department, he argued, because he or she needs to be “ready to shovel the same day”, have the confidence of the officers and because “there is no no time for on-the-job training. the constant threats we face. ”
“Our officers need leadership they can trust,” Papathanasiou said.
Papathanasiou also disputed a detail of Pittman’s account of who ordered the lockdown at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Pittman told Congress she ordered the lockdown, but the union responded that Inspector Thomas Loyd initially ordered the lockdown and Pittman’s order did not come until later.
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“Acting chief Pittman said she had ordered the lockdown,” Papathanasiou added. “To be clear, it was actually Inspector Loyd who originally ordered the Capitol lockdown about an hour before Chief Pittman’s order. It was the only time that day that I heard the Chief Acting Pittman on the radio. “
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