ROLL CALL: Capitol Police Chief’s Leadership Questioned.
The State of the Union night car chase that ended without arrest added new strains to already tense relationships inside the law enforcement community on Capitol Hill.
Capitol Police officers who were disturbed and embarrassed by the Jan. 20 incident allege it’s part of a frustrating pattern. They say commanders have instructed the rank and file to refrain from “low-value” stops — including traffic violations involving drunk driving and drug impairment on streets around the Capitol campus, multiple sources confirmed — because those arrests do not contribute to thwarting terrorism and protecting Congress.
Within the Capitol, House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Frank J. Larkin were frustrated when they were unable to get an accurate portrayal of the facts about the high-speed chase that ended on Washington Avenue Southwest, adjacent to the Rayburn House Office Building.
Tensions came to a head during the late January Capitol Police Board meeting with Chief Kim C. Dine and Deputy Chief Daniel B. Malloy, according to a source with knowledge of the conversations, because of a perceived lack of information from the scene. Discussions about communication between commanders and the troops are ongoing.
In the midst of the State of the Union address, department brass overruled the supervisor on the scene with an order not to arrest a driver who police say violated multiple traffic laws, including blowing through red lights at speeds of up to 60 mph with no driver’s license.
“You cannot have a police department that you don’t allow to police,” said one department official, who reached out to CQ Roll Call after the car chase to accuse Capitol Police of internal problems and a “culture of micromanaging” that discourages officers from responding to crimes or making arrests before seeking approval from their supervisors.
Capitol Police officials refused to take the driver of the white Crown Victoria into custody, leaving police who initiated the pursuit in Maryland with no power to execute an arrest. The order not to arrest provoked harsh words among officers on the scene, who blamed Capitol Police for allowing a criminal to flee without running his tags or identification to check for outstanding warrants.
“There is no mutual aid anymore,” said the official, a 13-year veteran of Capitol Police.
Well, to be fair, if they’d run the driver’s ID he might have turned out to be an illegal alien, and that would have been inconvenient during the State Of The Union.