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USCP Regional Field Offices?
I don’t know why there is not more outrage but this really must not be allowed:
The Capitol Police Will Open Offices in the States To ‘Investigate Threats to Members of Congress’
The January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol thrust its police force into a sympathetic national spotlight; like any other government agency, the U.S. Capitol Police has seized this opportunity to expand its mission and acquire additional funding.
Now the Capitol Police plans to build regional field offices in the states: California and Florida, for starters.
“The Department is also in the process of opening Regional Field Offices in California and Florida with additional regions in the near future to investigate threats to Members of Congress,” …
According to the press release, it aspires to move forward “along a new path towards an intelligence based protective agency.” …
So many questions passed through my head when I read that but a commenter at Instapundit starts the discussion off quite well:
…exactly what constitutional authority is there that allows for this? All LEO falls under the executive branch, but the capital police are only answerable to the house of representatives and are not bound by the same regulations, restrictions and rules of the other federal LEO’s. My instinctive reaction to this is it is unconstitutional and therefore illegal and where are the state governments on this? Are they ok with an unaccountable federal police force operating in their states? [Emphasis added.]
Expanding on that emphasized points, given their specific charter to “guard the Capitol building,” what makes anyone think that the USCP has any authority to operate in any fashion beyond the Capitol grounds? Clearly, the Legislative Branch has no constitutional authority to do this but if the Executive Branch does not push back to protect their turf (and they won’t), who will? (What is to stop this lawless Branch from setting up its own court system next? I wouldn’t put it past these corrupt and out-of-control employees of ours.) Ultimately, unless Congress comes to their senses and pulls back from this insanity, this dangerous overstep will have to be addressed by states with the fortitude to do so.
For starters: what can a state do to prevent the opening of these field offices within its borders? Since employees of the Legislative Branch have no authority to enforce laws, how does a Governor react to USCP officers carrying Capitol issued weapons in their state? At what point of their activities does it become impersonating an officer?
Clearly, the correct path is for the USCP to utilize the FBI (hey, at least they have been granted the authority they abuse on a daily basis) for any investigative and law enforcement activity beyond the Capitol grounds.
If Congress doesn’t control itself, I sure hope my Governor stands up to this. I know the unserious among us throw the term around too much, but (as far as this confederation of states is concerned) this seems to be a hill to die on.
Tell me where I am wrong.
Published in General
Governor does a public service address to the state.
“An unauthorized and illegal police force has been sent to our state by Nancy Pelosi . They have no authority here. If they contact you for any information you are not obligated to oblige. Take names and badge numbers and report them the the State Attorney General office. A hot line has been established x xxx xxxx . This is an unconstitutional rogue force. Do not comply”
Hope they send a group to Florida.
This idea from the people that thought the Postal Service should be an intelligence agency. The Capitol Police had one job and they failed, they should be closed down and replaced with the Secret Service. Of course that agency should probably be closed down too.
I’ve been reading about Trump’s social media lawsuit, and the fact that Ricochet won’t allow election fraud discussions on the Main page for fear of reprisals. And the NSA spying on Tucker Carlson. And it’s funny: It’s always been a crime to open anyone else’s mail. It is a violation of privacy. It has always been illegal to tap someone else’s telephones. It’s a violation of privacy. But now the NSA can tap, and the Press publish people’s private e-mails, social posts, and private cell calls. You’d think that this would be illegal, too. Legally speaking, what’s changed?
This sounds like a way to get Obama’s so-called Civilian National Security Force into action.
I’ll just go ahead and call this EXHIBIT A1 in the case of “why this it a bad idea”:
I will allow for a few individual exceptions but Congress is corrupt to the core and that goes double for management (intentionally not called leadership here). This little tidbit alone shows just how little they think of you and how undeserving they are to be in positions of power.
I would say this calls for an amped up Main Feed Post titled something like “Expose. Tar and Feather. Remove from Office.” But, unlike poking a lame duck, that would take real courage.
Depending on what they do at these offices, it could be legal and constitutional for them to do this. Private citizens are allowed to be investigators, and open up an office for that purpose. As long as they don’t try to exercise police powers – detention, arrests, seeking warrants, etc…it’s probably fine legally.
I’m confused. Are you saying that the Capitol Police can circumvent geographic restrictions upon their work, buy stetting up and paying non-federal employees to do their work for them that they themselves are prohibited from doing?
I’m just saying the legality of this plan depends not just on who they are, but what they actually do. If they do not attempt to exercise police powers – again, seeking to obtain warrants, arrest, detention, interrogation, and don’t otherwise violate the 4th amendment (since they’re gov agents), then what they propose to do it may well be legal.
I made a clumsy comparison to the fact that anybody can open up an office and conduct investigations out of it. The legality of that depends mostly on how the investigators are conducted. Just as private citizens can do that, so can the uscp, again with added 4th amendment issues to be wary of, which would not apply to non-government investigators.
There may be all kinds if reasons why this is a bad idea, but until we see what actions they are taking, I can’t conclude it’s automatically illegal or unconstitutional.
Reminds me of their formerly secret slush fund (revealed while Paul Ryan was the Speaker) that congress uses to pay off/settle/hush up “indiscretions”.
So the first office they open will be in Kentucky to investigate threats against Senator Rand Paul, right? In the last four years he’s been shot at*, beaten up, surrounded and threatened by an AntiFa mob, and had a suspicious package filled with white powder and labeled with death threats sent to his home.
And they’ll open the next office in Belleville, Illinois, correct? They need to keep an eye on the Bernie Sanders supporters there, in case any more become heavily armed and radicalized domestic extremists like James Hodgkinson, the perpetrator of the worst attack on our democracy since 9/11 when he attempted to murder as many Republican legislators as he could on June 14th, 2017 at a baseball diamond in Alexandria, Virginia (*yes, Rand Paul was one of those Hodgkinson attempted to kill).
See comment #5. Again, they have already proven themselves unworthy of our trust. Putting this back in the tube once it is out (i.e. once they do “try to”) will be like everything else done the DC way. Let’s not just pretend this is an honest venture…
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Nothing to worry about here:
More:
All in the hands of a “police force” that is not “subject to FOIA and part of the executive branch”…but it is under the control of Nancy Pelosi. Yes, well worth a nonchalant brush-off…
One begins to wonder how a liberty loving People might react to such a
ParliamentCongress gone rogue.From the RedState comments:
It’s a perfect encapsulation of modern American government. Take something that failed, quadruple its budget and scope, and sit back and rake in the accolades for a job well done.
If anything, it should be re-organized. Have a consulting firm walk through everything, offer recommendations, and re-structure it. It absolutely failed and so did the idiots who control it – Congress.
Just thinking about this a bit more. Questions, I’ve got ’em.
Why wouldn’t any investigation for these types of events not fall under the existing DOJ structure, with the US Attorneys for each state carrying out investigations in their jurisdictions?
What would the police bring to an investigation, other than the arrest records and evidence? Isn’t all of that already in hand? Are there Capitol Police detectives? Hard to tell from their website.
If so, again, why wouldn’t this fall under the normal existing DOJ purview? Aren’t they doing this right now in DC? If they exist to protect congress, and provide security at capitol buildings, etc, why would they need a presence in each state? The Senators and Congressclowns generally don’t spend a lot of time at their state offices, other than for PR events. Why would you, when the action is in DC, you don’t pay for your housing in DC – all your perqs are there.
Who wouldn’t like to have one’s own professional brownshirt operation with offices around the country?
You, over there! You, without a vaccination card. You’re a threat to the safety of Congressman Erhand Boy. We can’t have that.