As a result of an increase in threats to members of Congress since January’s Capitol riot, the United States Capitol Police (USCP) announced its plan to establish field offices in Florida and California to investigate these threats.
In an email sent to the News Service of Florida, the specific locations within the two states will be the Tampa and San Francisco areas respectively.
In addition to expansion, the USCP as a whole will focus more time on training and undergo new training measures under the Civil Disturbance Unit. The increase in training procedures will include “joint training with the National Guard, riot training, shoot/don’t shoot scenarios, and less-than-lethal exercises” while also “increasing its use of force, tactical, equipment, leadership, and incident command training.”
The USCP press release from Tuesday states, “It has been six months since rioters attacked the United States Capitol… Throughout the last six months, the United States Capitol Police has been working around the clock with our Congressional stakeholders to support our officers… and pivot towards an intelligence-based protective agency.”
Having local field offices is part of the USCP Critical Incident Response Plan that involves the action plan for local, state, and federal officers to quickly act in response to planned or unexpected emergencies. Federal manpower is provided by the USCP’s cooperation with Congress, the United States Department of Defense, and the Capitol Police Board who have authorized the use of the National Guard in such emergencies, without waiting for board approval.
Although Florida and California are the first two states to have USCP offices, the press release mentioned the agency’s mission for “additional regions in the near future.” In the email to the News Service, the USCP said the reasoning behind the first offices being in Florida and California is because they are “where the majority of our potential threats are.”
Since January 6, more than 500 individuals have been charged for crimes related to storming the Capitol. The changes made by the USCP are aimed to bring justice to individuals who remain at-large and continue to threaten the well-being of Congress members.
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Capitol Police” by Elvert Barnes. CC BY-SA 2.0.
