BACK-SCRATCHING: Critics Decry Capitol Police ‘Old Boys’ Network.’

A two-word email sent on the eve of the Oct. 10 Million Man March prompted Capitol Police to confiscate the gun and badge of a newly promoted captain, only to return both items on Oct. 13.

The incident is still under investigation, according to outgoing Chief Kim C. Dine, who credits the department with taking “swift and appropriate action” when employees misbehave. But a congressional aide familiar with the captain’s case said the agency’s “old boys’ network is attempting to make an example of a woman who has a reputation for calling out improper behavior.”

The original message, sent at 8:41 a.m. by an administrative officer in the department’s Protective Services Bureau, notified a few dozen employees that the security pin color for the week ahead would be, “BLACK.”

Capt. Kathleen McBride replied to all recipients at 8:47 a.m., “Of course.”

McBride sent a second response, two minutes after the first, directly to the sender.

“Of course you can feel free to take me off this notification any time you’d like. I don’t think I will be on [dignitary protection] anytime soon :)”

But the 8:47 a.m. email ignited a firestorm.

Many of the email’s recipients were black.

Tensions were running high ahead of the all-hands-on-deck event, which required some officers to log 20-hour shifts.

A day earlier, Dine sat down with Nation of Islam leaders to apologize and distance himself from an inflammatory internal newsletter — also released by the Protective Services Bureau — that warned of potential “fireworks” during Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s visit to the Hill.

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