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Nationalizing the Police
The government will never let a crisis (real or fake) get in the way of an opportunity:
The United States Capitol Police (USCP) will open new regional offices in response to increased threats to members of Congress since the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the police agency announced Tuesday.
The first announced two field offices will open in California and Florida, with additional states expected in the “near future,” acting USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement Tuesday. The purpose will be “to investigate threats to Members of Congress.”
This is ridiculously unconstitutional and obliterates federalism. Policing is a local matter. Police answer to their community. All accountability is removed when the chain of command skips the states and goes straight to DC.
This is what the authoritarians mean by “rethinking police” and “reallocating resources” and it should scare everyone. I don’t like the idea of a congressman from California or Virginia weaponizing their political muscle in other states. Unless states push back on this, I see this becoming an accepted norm in five years.
Published in Policing
Absolutely not! I’m waiting to see how Gov. DeSantis responds to this invasion–because that’s what it is. And there’ll be a lot of angry sheriffs, too. Good grief!
California is a lost cause, but I’m surprised that Florida is letting this happen. Not good.
I suspect that they haven’t declared the authority they will be demanding yet. Anyone can open an office anywhere. We’ll watch and see ….
Typical of government rewarding failure. The Capitol Police failed in their only mission and for that they get expanded. If this was corporate world, the Capitol Police would all be fired and the Secret Service would get a new task.
Gestapo by any other name . . .
Yet more evidence that the national government is becoming the enemy of the people. The language used by supporters in the news articles about this is language used by rulers over subjects, not the language representatives of the people use about the people they represent.
I’m not sure that any state will have a choice. Before 2020, I never could have seen it coming but the Leftists are on the march and I’m beginning to suspect that they now think that it’s time to make their move.
Think about it; a nation awash in violent crime and yet a bunch of trespassers are being held indefinitely in D.C.
To the Feds, the local police have always been suspect; they’re armed and not always reliable. Putting more Federal law enforcement offices out in the States (except for the Mexican border, of course) makes perfect sense from their point of view.
Of course, the Republican party is just standing around, hands in pockets, waiting for it to happen…
Nullification always works. We’re going to have to get people on board with this before it’s too late. I mentioned this elsewhere, but the left and the progressives win by hundreds of small battles. Conservatives see “small” offenses like this as not a big deal, then ten years later we’re left wondering what the hell happened to our freedoms.
“Republicans” are too busy clutching their pearls over President Trump and the imagined January 6th apocalypse.
It’s just one more step in the direction that increasingly looks like a coming storm. If they want a civil war, this is one way to bring it about.
Well, I think y’all all know my thoughts on that.
The FBI has regional branches and field offices. The Secret Service does as well. No state should tolerate the establishment of another national law enforcement service without federal legislation and court challenges, at least.
Exactly. Why not just add a desk or two at one of the FBI regional offices? There’s more to this; maybe a lot more.
Are we supposed to believe that after allowing – even encouraging – BLM/Antifa rioting and burning and looting etc, for over a year, suddenly that will be stopped once it’s all federal police?
Can you extend the same argument to the FBI?
At the current time I think this is less about federalizing the police & more about defunding the police. People like AOC want to defund the police WHILE maintaining safety for themselves- they deserve extra protection b/c they sacrifice so much for the people (the same way the Clinton’s need the money from the Foundation b/c they sacrifice so much). Look at the blue cities-where the police are defunded units are side lined to protect the politicians- in NY, Chicago, Minneapolis and Portland. The federalizing part comes later- after any crime wave from defunding becomes unbearable (never let a crisis go to waste).
The FBI has aptly demonstrated that they have no interest in enforcing actual criminal conduct. They’re a political enforcement arm first and foremost.
Neiman Marcus might like the idea in San Francisco.
That isn’t what they’re for. They’re for rounding up and locking away conservatives and others guilty of free-thought.
“Not the hill to die on” or ‘choose your battles’ is the claim…..it always means surrender, appeasement, and betrayal.
I would, but I’m against all unconstitutional alphabet agencies.
What local police? They are leaving in droves. Retiring or moving to smaller towns. Seattle has lost 200 officers in the last year, and more are leaving every day. And the Chief of Police is literally begging the criminals to put down their guns.
There is a distinction between the FBI and the Capitol Police.
Ignoring the debate over whether the FBI has become irredeemably political, the FBI has jurisdiction only to enforce federal laws. And local police do not generally have authority to enforce federal laws (violations of federal law may be added by prosecutors after the person has been arrested by the local police for violation of state or local laws). The FBI and the local police have (theoretically) non-overlapping jurisdictions with regard to laws to enforce. Thus, there is legitimate reason for the FBI to have field offices in the states.
As far as I know, there are no laws on the books that apply outside the U.S. Capitol that only the Capitol Police may enforce. Any threats against members of Congress in the field (outside the Capitol) can already be dealt with either by local police as violations of state and local laws, or by the FBI as violations of federal laws.
There is no legitimate reason for the Capitol Police to have field offices outside of Washington, D.C.
There is also the practical issue that the more different agencies operating in the same territory, the greater the likelihood that the actions of the agencies will conflict – one agency may take action that undermines the investigations undertaken by another agency (Capitol Police investigation may undermine parallel or related FBI investigation).
Reminds me of those TV police dramas from the seventies. “Get back behind your desk, chief! The real cops are in control of the situation now!”
We already have an SS.