The U.S. Capitol Police have announced plans to open more field offices across the country, including in Texas, in response to an alleged increase in threats against members of Congress.
The plans were announced by Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger during a joint oversight hearing of the Capitol Police Board.
Two regional offices are in the works for Milwaukee and Boston, according to Manger, with another office planned for “somewhere in Texas.”
Field offices for the Capitol Police opened in Florida and California following the events of January 6, 2021, reported The Texas Tribune.
During the hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) claimed there has been an “explosion of threats of violence against members of both parties.”
“We had, tragically, a Senate staffer repeatedly stabbed in broad daylight here in Washington, DC, just a couple blocks from this hearing room,” said Cruz.
Cruz was referring to a March attack on Phillip Todd, a staffer in the office of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
Another incident occurred last October when Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was allegedly attacked with a hammer in San Francisco.
The suspect was charged with attempted murder, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Manger corroborated the statements from Cruz, claiming there had been a roughly “300% increase in threat cases” involving members of Congress over the past seven years.
Up to 9,000 alleged threats are expected by the end of the year, an increase from 7,501 in 2022, as reported by Roll Call.
The number of threats against members of Congress was 3,939 in 2017. One year earlier, in 2016, there were 902 threats investigated by Capitol Police, reported The New York Times.
The increase demonstrates the need for additional offices nationwide, according to Manger.
“Due to the increased threat environment, our protective responsibilities have increased, requiring additional protection details, increased coverage of [congressional delegations] and field hearings, as well as other enhancements to our current protective details,” Manger said in written testimony to the committee.
“We need to do a better job at protecting members when they’re home, their families. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got security measures in place in home district offices, in homes, so that it raises everybody’s level of security,” he added.
The expansion of the Capitol Police proved controversial in the past.
Dorothy Moses Schulz, a retired police captain and John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor, spoke about an expansion in Tampa back in 2021 and said the additional office might be redundant.
“What role will they play that isn’t already being played,” she said, per CBS 10 Tampa Bay. “And the fact their budget, personnel allocations and nothing about them is subject to FOIA makes this all the more disconcerting.”
Others also spoke out forcefully against the expansion.
“Any Capitol Police officer who steps foot in another state to set up a field office should be escorted immediately to the airport under threat of arrest. And the National Guard should be the ones escorting,” Jesse Kelly tweeted, according to the Washington Examiner.
“The Capitol Police are opening up offices in the states, and will become an intelligence gathering agency like the FBI and NSA. This is a nightmare scenario, one that civil libertarians of all stripes should oppose,” Robby Soave claimed.
According to Roll Call, the department has already received funding for the new field offices, but there is no timeline available for when the offices will be completed.
