Capitol Police IG testifies many recommendations made after Jan. 6 have not been implemented
Threats against lawmakers have been on the rise.
A month before the anniversary of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton told lawmakers at a Senate Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday that despite hundreds of recommendations made by his office over the past year, many have yet to be implemented.
Bolton reminded lawmakers his department "produced eight flash reports outlining areas of improvement for the department resulting in 104 recommendations." However, only 30 of those recommendations have been acted upon, he said.
Police Chief Thomas Manger joined the police force in July, as threats to lawmakers increased significantly in 2021.
Despite the lack of change, Bolton noted that "having a permanent [police] chief that is one step...forward because it's very difficult when you start trying to make changes when you're having somebody in an acting capacity."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the committee, told fellow lawmakers that in 2021, "the Capitol police reported over 4,100 threats against members of Congress."
"That's on track to more than double the number of threats against members in all of 2020. The chief has said that he expects that the department and law enforcement partners will have to respond to 9,000 threats to members this year," she said.
Bolton said he believes Capitol Police are making improvements to respond to threats facing lawmakers, including opening a Florida field office and hiring additional analysts to help the agency keep up.
"We still have a ways to go, but we are making improvements. We're taking our steps now," he said.
As officers respond to the increase of threats, the police force has been left with another issue -- 200 officers have either left or retired from Capitol Police since Jan. 6. Despite being authorized to have 1,800 officers, Bolton said the force currently has only as many as 1,600 officers.
He noted that due to the significant amount of training required for a new officer, it takes almost a year for a new officer to fully serve on the force.
"We are working diligently to address staffing shortages in order to provide officers more time for additional training," Capitol Police said in a statement Tuesday. "The department must continue to improve and expand its intelligence and protective capabilities. This is vital for carrying out our critical mission," they added.
The department conceded, however, that "there is more work to do."
The ninth and final IG flash report, to be released in the coming days, will be a "summary of the status of the recommendations we have made and security improvements that the department has made since January 6," Bolton told lawmakers.
In January, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger will testify before the committee.
