local police, about an hour 20

minutes. >> the committee and house administration will come to order. i note that a quorum is present without objection. also without objection the meeting record will remain open for five legislative days so members may submit any material they which to include therein. thank you member moreli and witnesses for participating in today's hearing. dc is out of control. anyone who lives, visits or works in dc and seen the impact

that weak -- weak on crime has had, in recent years dc council has taken a variety of that have weakened the city's crime laws requiring congress to step in. in 2020 the dc city council cut $15 million in metropolitan police department subject. simultaneously the council repeatedly past temporary emergency policy that restricted police officers authority and changed the dc criminal code. for the firstrs congress had to act and nullify a dc law because it was so ridiculous. crime inc is so bad that president biden was shamed into reversing his veto threat. month later, the house and senate had to act again. another resolution to overturn the antipolice policies, implement by the dc

city council. unfortunately president biden vetoed this bill. this was a missed tuned as today dc crime continues to remain a problem. from in my hometown of wisconsin, i hear policies we have in place. this amendment came as concerns for public safety and crime continued toan be said for capil hill today. i hear from visitors and staff crime in our nation's capitol. capitol hill specifically ward 6 which encompasses the capitol complex has seen increase in violent crime in the past few years. i'd like to note for committee record that we invited ward 6 councilman charles allen to our discussion today. the committee made several attempts but unfortunately mr. allen did not answer a request to participate in today's hearing. as chairman of the ctt

committed to ensuring our nation's capitol and surrounding area safe for every american family. i think we can all agree whether you're here for a tour of the capitol or to meet with your representative, every visitor deserves to feel safe. each year welcomes 2.5 million visitors to our nation's capitol. however, in the last year we have seen b dramatic increase in crime in washington, d.c. particularly near the capitol complex. let's examine the numbers. in 2023 violent crime was up 39% year over year in our nation's capitol. there were over 6,800 motorcycle thefts in dc. there were 959 carjackings, for context 152 carjackings in 2019.

in ward 6 specifically which includes the united states capitol there were -- there were over 150 will be race in the past six months and 350 vehicles were stolen. last year two of my colleagues were victims of crime. in september i hosted a security briefing where we heard from two staff members who were mugged at gunpoint just down?> the street. these individuals shared their story about dangers of violent crime and the need to remain vigilant. each of the statistics represents a staff member, a visitor, a member of congress, the committee on house the overe capitol campus security. rising crime in our nation's caularly near the capitol has constrained resources for u.s. capitol police and sergeant at arms. u.s. capitol police must devote more and more resources to

increase threats against the hill community. these resources may otherwise be spent on the u.s. capitol poce obligation in their core mission. as crime continues to remain a serious threat and concerns for members, staff and visitors, i'm focusing on finding ways we can reduce violent crime in the nation's capitol and particularly nearooking forwardo hearing witnesses how violent crime threatens u.s. capitol security. we will explore the impact on soft on crime policies and we can assure the capitol is safe and secure for all visitors and staff. as chairman, i'm committed■= to making capitol hill a safe place to visit and to work. with that yield the ranking member 5 minutes for opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman for convening us. let me begin first off offering

congratulations, we have new staff, deputy clerks, i want to congratulate appointees and w on the new responsibilities. i want to welcome our panel. first of all, always good to see chief for your long service, mr. manguel, we are grateful for your service and being here today. -- and aye said this before and i will say it in the future, law enforcement has our back, it's critical that we have your back asel that includes the united states capitol police, the washington metropolitan as well as law enforcement agencies like the fbi and atf. it's no secret that in 2020 during the pandemic homicide and violent crime increased across

the nation, thankfully while there was so much more that needs to be done in 2023 violend significantly last year, saw one to have lowest rates in violent crimes in more than half a century. those a m observations, those are the statistics. unfortunately the district of colombia has been the exception to the rule and the congressional community has not been immune to this uptick in violence here. members as the chair has indicated have been assaulted in elevators, carjacked and staff have been brutally stabbed and robbed at gunpoint. i'm pleased that the district of colombia has taken steps toand c council passed secure dc amendment act which contains 10 provisions, addressing organized retail theft and more. i must point out, however, this is the fourth hearing convened

by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle on crime in the nation's capitol of this congress. despite all the talk of armed robberies and shootings i've yet to hear my colleagues meaningfully address the gun safety measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals in the district of colombia. on the contrary the fiscal year 2024 financial services and general governmentcludes a polir advanced by my republican colleagues that would permit concealed carry of firearms in the district of colombia, it's astonishing that you would do that at a time when we are concerned about violent crime. guns and let's make this clear, guns make violent crime more violent and more deadly and i struggle to reconcile my colleague's concerns about violent crime with af( complete disregard to the key driver of those crimes. there are no commercial gun stores in the district of colombia. so the guns used here are from out tate, these guns are

often acquired illegally through either straw purchasers or unlicensed sellers. yet every single repubn this committee who was here in last congress voted bipartisan safer community act which created the first criminal statute for firearms traoicurch. just recently capitol police officers arrested a man just off capitol grounds carrying a rifle he brought to the district of colombia from the state of georgia unless we take common sense steps supported by a majority of of the american people on the question of illegal firearms will never fully address or solve the violent crime issue here in washington. that's why i've introduced the state firearms dealer licensing enforcement act and soon reintroduce the gun theft prevention. these bills would crack down on gun trafficking by ensuring oversight and licensing requirements for firearm dealers and by granting atf the tools to hold repeat offenders

accountable. we also need to support efforts of federal law enforcement partners fbi and atf who have doubled to prosecute violent criminals in washington, d.c. l for defunding for the fbi and atf. finally, i would be remiss if i didn't note the rule the federal government places in the local justice here in the district of colombia. much of the rest of the criminal justice infrastrfederal the whis serious coordination issues. in a tragic example, the vidual who stabbed senator rand paul staffer was released by the federal bureau of prisons with no notice to the district of colombia. so the coordination is an issue i want to thank again our

witnesses. i'm looking toward to your testimony and questions and look forward to the proceedings, so that with, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> member yields back. today we have a one-witness panel. we welcome( chief major. we appreciate you being here today. the witnesses will p stand and raise the right hand. do you solemnly swear that the testimony that you're about to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. first witness is chief thomas major, chief of u.s. capitol police. chief major appointed as chief of police in july of 2021. chief major has served 45 years in the policing profession including more than two decades as chief of police for 3 of the largest policege national capitol region. our next witness mr. gregory

pimberton, chairman of the dc police union. department in 2005 and worked in patrol and vice in the third district. in 2020 greg successfully ran■tn the position of chairman of dc police unit and reelected in 2022 and again in 2024. he currently serves and represents the 3,000 members of mpd's ranking file. >> our last witness rafael manguel is a fellow at the manhattan institute. he's authored and coauthored a number of reports and op-eds on issues ranging from urban crime and jail violence broader matters to civil justice reform. we appreciate being here today and look forward to your testimony. i will now recognize chief major for five minutes

and what you'r going to see it catches the suspect as he runs, flees the scene and i want to show you what happens next. so you'll see here in a moment there's a black suv that comes down the street and stops. there it is right now and it's going to stop in the corner. these -- and you see two women jump out of the because they

have seen the suspect down the street. >> wow. >> you see the driver of the suv, a male help bring the suspect down and the fourth suspect or fourth individual came out of the backseat. all four of those individuals were capitol police officers. the first one who intercepted him, tall woman was deputy chie. this is just an example of the almost daily interaction that the uscpenforcement partners ine national capitol region. it's a mutually beneficial relationship that allows our department to fulfill its mission in securing capitol the and surrounding neighborhoods in order to keep members, their

families, staff and visitors safe. by necessity we are more a prot, however, at its core, the uscp has traditional responsibilities. ment has patrol officers who enforce traffic laws, we have criminal investigators, crime scene chnicians, criminal processing, motorcycle units, bomb squad team, k9 units, the department deals with the enforcement of the law as it and extend jurisdiction zone in order to protect the campus and the members and staff who work reside and travel through the neighboring communities. like, for instance, the case last wear where uscp officers spotted a stolen car, tied to multiple carjackings city, the suspects in the vehicle were considered armed and dangerous. the vehicle sped away and we

chased them. right after that, that case oned a suspect wanted by the secret service. our officer took multiple knives and chain saw blade and found that the individual had fake police equipment in his car and charged him with impersonating a police officer. rule when the uscp officer confiscated rifle near the they stopped, they also -- they stopped the assault rifle from getting onto capitol hill. even more recentle made an arrest and arrested another individual for carrying molotov cocktails off capitol grounds. just last week offers at the center prevented a man with a hammer from his backpack from

entering the building. member and staff carjacked. the fact is our community, the members of congress, the staff, their families, our visitors don't just stay on capitol grounds. many live here when they're in session. for many this is the home away from home. uscp works hand in hand with the met approximately attended police department of washington, d.c. and our other law enforcement partners to keep people safe and we patrol and respond to where our community lives, works plays when they are in the nation's capitol. you each should have a map of jurisdiction zone. we have full police authority in that zone. you should also know that the uscp has rosae of locations where many members reside when we are in session.

our cops are out there as well. we respond today an assault in the 400 bloc of new jersey avenue. we arrested the individual who st passer-by with a tree branch. ago we responded to a man weeks throwing bricks in front of a house in home of maryland avenue. we stopped the guy and took him into custody. the home ha was damaged was adjacent to home of u.s. senator. u.s. capitol police understand that our priority has to be this capitol campus. but we also understand that our community doesn't just say on this campus and so we areand ine metropolitan police department in areas in and around capitol hill when we have events outside, in the city but outside

the capitol hill area. we send our folks to ensur enhance the safety in partnership with mpd. we will continue to do that and i'm happy to answer any questions that the committee may have. >> thank i can, on behalf of ale members we want to extend appreciation to men and women who serve in the u.s. cals you highlighted were involved in taking down a suspect. it's a reminder of out dangerous of a job all of our law enforcement officers have and we thank those for but the countless men and women that work and so we extend our appreciation. our next witness is mr. gregg pimberton and you're recognized for five minutes. >> as the chairman of dc policef police officers. i take great pride in serving

the city. my testimony here today will be an effort to inform the committee on issues related to crime in the district of colombia. i will try to answer 3 questions that i hear more often here in the district. why is crime so bad, how did ito to fix it. beginning in june of 2020 the dc col introducing antipolice legislation designed in their own words to act accordingly to bend the aarc of justice, end quote. i would like to provide a lis of just some of the legislation that the dc council would introduce over the course of next two years. the comprehensive police and justice reform amendment act, the strengthening oversight and police amendment act, the revised criminal amendment act, law enforcement qualified immunity succession act, law

enforcement vehicular pursuit reform act, the school police accountability amendment act and the white supremacy and policing prevention act. one councilmember stated in public hearing, quote,w for a fact police that have been going without the proper penance. other council members bragged about defunding the department or making, quote, the biggest retums to mpd he had ever seen. in hearing that took place just two weeks ago mr. council becamt result has been a mass exodus of police officers from the department. since the beginning of 2020 the

mpd has lost 1,426 officern onee department, 540 of those separations nearly 40% were resignations. employees who just walked away from a career from the mpd. mpd currently has over 500 vacancies for the position of sworn officer and our chief of police has testified that it will take over a decade to fill them. these dangerously staffing levels takeaway ability to respond to and investigate crime losing patrols and impedes the department's ability to engage and speak with victims in the timely manner. crime status are absolutely staggering. homicides have reached 274. 35% increase. carjackings reached 958, 105% increase. robberies were up 67% and violent crime overa went up 39% and all crimes went up 26%.

the statistics i've mentioned are city wide. if one forces out data to neighborhood level some of the communities have grown to look like war zones. the district's ward 6 which encompasses the capitol, eastern market, capitol hill experienced a 188% increase in homicides. 66% increase in robberies, 42% increase in sex assaults, 47% increase in carjackings and over 3 and a half years our union has been sounding alarm with anyone with near shot including dc council. we try to inform elected of unintended consequences unfortunately we've been ignored. dc residents and businesses and -- excuse me, business owners are under seem and members of congress are being assaulted and carjacked. tourists and visitors, constituents are being targeted and attacked.

now almost four years later we have all seen the results o dc council's experiment and empirical data is in and we know fo abject failure. lasting impacts of the horrible impacts will not be seen for some sometime and could take decades without activity and thoughtful actions. if we do not undo policies that are pushing our police officers, crimes will continue to rise. the purpose of my testimony here today is to inform the committee in ongoing crisis that exist in the district and publicly sate that we are prepared to assist in any way we can. again, thank you for the opportunity to testify and i welcome any questions the committee may have. >> thank you, mr. pemberton. mr. manguel. >> i'd like to begin by thanking

you for the opportunity to the offer on important topic. in 2023 a year h in which the latest fbi suggest the nation saw homicides decline by 13% and violent crime decline by nearly 6%. washington, d.c. saw homicides spike 35% and violent crimesd increased 39%. for historical context dc's 2023 homicide total was the highest it's been in 26 years. robberies and car theft in the district were up whopping 67 and 82% respectively in 2023 while carjackings nearly doubled even ha year increases. those numbers are more concerning than it might seem at first glance because robberies and carjackings are occurring at high numbers despite the fact that dc has like other cities have seen market shift in routine activities. in short, foot traffic in office work, public transit ridership are all down significantly which has reduced opportunity of

offenses to take place because there are■3 fewer targets to tae place. data published by the washington metropolitan transit authority on weekends rail ridership in november of 2023 was 55% of what it was in november 2019 and just last week the washington post reported that office attendance is at, quote, 43% as preponderance federal workers work from home. all of this means that the crime in the district reflect even larger increase in the risk of victimization. this phenomena was illustrated that adjusted crime rates, ie,

potential victims spent outside showed that new york, los angeles and chicago people in public spaces were, quote, 15 to 30% more likely to be robbed or assaulted in 2020 even though the number of robbery and assault offenses recorded in those city that is year decreased. the increase in victimization risk is on its own sufficient cause for urgency when it comes to combating crime here in washington but it's worth noting that the economic and bridal impacts in rise in crime are to be positive. effect of crime and effect on tourism. all of this raises two questions. what might explain the recent crime spike and what can be done about it. the answer to the first suggest the answer to the second. like so many other american cities that have seen crime spike in recent years dc has fallen short. first dwindling number of police

officers and metro police chief reported to the dc council that the department was down from 450 officers compared to 2020 bringing to lowest staffing level century. this is not unrelated to the sharp decline and arrest throughout the city, measure that has remained low midway through 2020. strong causal analysis showed additional new officers will likely reduce homicides particularly in the city's enclave and knows firsthand how surges can be to home of well-known studies of additional police presence on crime. second is the fact that serious violent crime in washington has driven disproportionately -- isg done. 2021 report published by the national institute for criminal justice reform reported that, quote, approximately 86% of homicide victims and suspects were known to the criminal

justice system and most victims ahad been arrested about 11 times for about 13 drinks offenses by the time of the homicide. that measure was in line with what chief related to reporters in march of last year when he said that homicide oh offenders had 11 prior arrests which was in line with other major cities. total cases charged by that low. report from the washington post shows more cases were higher in 2023. the reality is that dc has not been immune from the general and decarceration.ard i don't think it's a coincidence that the police has also seen public safety deteriorate since more dramatically moving in that dire■hction. now is the time to pause and recalibrate. the recent passage of omnibus

añbill is good first step but te city is far from out of the woods. thank you very much and i look rwarto answering any of your questions. >> thank you very much, mr. mangual. we will now begin questions starting with me and alternate the parties. i will recognize myself for five minutes. start with you mr. pemberton, countless congressional staffers have been robbed within a mile of the capitol. staffer for senator rand paul he was stabbed repeatedly "vpuncturing lungs and skull, members of congress assaulted in an elevator and representative was car-jacked just down the

road. all ese crimes happened within a mile of here largely in ward 6 represented by council member charles allen. he rejected that invitation. mr. pemberton you mentioned some of the bills that dc council ss on the youth rehabilitation act that passed in 2018 that reduced sentences for first-time offenders. is it true that the bill raised the age of what is considered 24 years of age? >> 's>> if a 24-year-old was to commit a carjacking with a gun at our nation's capitol they would be eligible for reduced sentence under that law? >> that's correct. if you encounter people who have used this program more than once contrary to how the program was sold -- >> absolutely. >> so you know individuals who are over the -- well over the age of 18 -- up to the age o 24

who could commit a carjacking with a gun, be eligible for reduced sentence and that can happen multiple times? >> yes, absolutely. >>ha the impact of an individual who does this, what's your analysis of that law? >> there's no consequence for actions of behavior and they know that and free to recommit crimes really of the police officers serving in the metro police department? >> it's horrible. you're arresting for violent accountable for their actions and it really takes an impact on morale. >> an o life to try to apprehend a dangerous criticallal and in this case maybe a 24-year-old who carjacked someone with a gun only to find out that this individual is treated as a youth in our nation's capitol with limited consequences and can find themselves back out onhe

street in short order to commit another crime? >> this is what happens more often than not. this is regular. >> we look at the numbers in dc, violent crime increased by 39, homicides, 35%. robberies, 67% and carjackings increased 82%. and so for the reasons -- for those reasons we created house security resources guide after a briefing with you last september. would you agree that the dc's increase in crime is a direct result of the policies pushed by the dc and antipolicing and soft on crime policies? >> absolutely. and go to you it safe to -- >> absolutely. >> let me come back to you mr. pemberton if i can. in 2021dc had the fifth highest

homicide rate in the country, that's saying something and it's not saying anything good. meanwhile the average homicide suspect in our nation's capitol had already been arrested 11 times, is that accurate? >> that is correct, yes. >> and so we are looking a arresting time and again as having a detrimental impact on morale, correct? >> absolutely. >> and so your testimony you mentioned comprehensive policing and justice reform act negatively ct policies in there. can i ask you what the impact of negative rhetoric by the dc city council towards police has had on officers?v■t >> yes, so the discussions that came out around all of these pieces of legislation and the regular conversation that is the council has about police in general are incredibly negative and the message is loud and clear from the council and ranking file members are receiving that. the council does not like police

officers, they do in the and thy don't want them making arrest and don't want them investigating people. that message is loud and drives people away from the department and people who those that don't leave the department are apprehensive about doing their job. >> thank you. it's noted because of the dramatic increase in crime and in particular the areas surrounding the capitol. this is an overflow affect on you chief your officers, the it accurate that last year capitol police made 234 arrests relate to dui, assaults, drugs, motorcycle theft and weapon law violations? >> that's correct. >> you have seen uptick in those type of arrests and capitol hill area in the last four years? >> yes, we have. >> has et maid your job harder and job of police harder to deliver on your chief mission which is securing and protecting capitol complex? >> yes, but we -- we look at our crime fighting responsibilities

as integral to our missions so it's just -- it's like so many other areas of our mission, it's just increased. >> understood. we appreciate the work that you and the men and women under your command do every day. i think dc in 2023 is a stark example of what happens when antipolice soft on crime policies are implemented. when you make a police officer's job harder and more difficult, when you denigrate the service of police officers, when you defund police, there's negative consequences. in contrast, we are going to continue to support the law enforcement officers and in particularly the law enforcement officers of capitol police who are doing their job to protect visitors, staff members ande that they have the resources to do their jobs, i'm committed in making sure u.s. capitol and surrounding area are safe. i yield back and i

the ranking member for five minutes. >> thanks so much, mr. chairman. i appreciate all of the comments made by the witnesses and obviously this is a -- a challenging, challenging issue. i do note that it's been extensive use of statistics, i just thought i would read some of the more current ones for the year 2024 which admittedly we are about a quarter of a year in. i want to be mindful of that, but as ind metropolitan police department statistics homicide in 2024 for the same period in 2023 is down 31%, assault with dangerous weapon is down 32%, robbery down 8%, violent crime overall down 16%. as it relates to property crimes, burglary down 19%, motorcycle theft down 30%, arson

is down 2004%, property crime down 11%. and all crime down 12%. i assume that if some of the trends continue the remarks will be withdra by people what made them since we are relying heavily on statistics. i also just want to note for the record that while statements have been made about law enforcement, i do note that the republicanouse bill on cjs which is commerce justice and science that the republican bill had itt would have cut funding for the fbi at $415.3 billion as opposed to fiscal yea 2 atf's fg by $149.9 million and would have reduced funding for united states attorneys who prosecute

these federal crimes by $320 million, so for folks who continue to talk about supporting law enforcement, some of my colleagues have either have aamnea or don't recognize supporting law enforcement at federal and local levels. i want to ask you chief major particularly since you have responsibility for the capitol complex and this hearing is about capitol hill, safety on capitol hill. you mentioned in your testimony that the capitol police confiscated ghost gun near senate parks and arrested an individual with high capacity magazine. i also know you have experience as a police chief in both maryland andirginia. how are these guns making their way into washington, d.c.? >> typically they're coming from other states and i can tell you i've been a police officer in

virginia for 27 years, virginia has got plenty of guns. >> and many of those guns are making their way into washington, d.c.? >> they make their way to a lot of places. >> , in your opinion, your capitol campus and area -- >> certainly in the wrong hands. >> do you believe the officers will be safer if it was difficult to obtain m4-style guns, high-capacity magazines? >> so -- any police officer is safe when there's fewer guns around in my view. >> i want to ask you, you've attacks that havethers have occurred on members of congress as well as staff and what are the safety resources available to members and staff when

they're off capitol grounds in dc? you mentioned a little bit in your testimony, i wonder if you canxp >> so we do -- when we have congressional events that are off campus we certainly want to provide escorts or resources and one of the initiatives that we were looking to do is reach a memorandum of agreement with mpd so that when we have a congressional event i will give you an example, congressional if you believe game or congressional softball game that we have authority to take action should something happen. we have that in the extended jurisdiction zone and if we can have that in any congressional event in the city that would bee not trying to replace mpd. mpd is great partner we have. we can supplement and fus more resources when our community is

-- is in and around the city. >> very good. i want to join with youfficers e capitol police department and mpd who put their lives on the line every day. we are completely grateful for sacrifice and will continue to support your efforts and with that i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. dr. murphy is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. just a point of inquiry can we subpoena the dc city council? do you know we can subpoena the dc city council? >> we did invite mr. charles and the safety of individuals within the community is a partisan issue. i don't get it. i don't get it. bullets can kill democrats just as well as they can kill republicans and innocent individuals. there's a reason that criminals should be prosecuted. i will remind our -- our

colleagues that money for prosecutors doesn't matter if the laws don't allow them to be prosecuted, period. so, you know, i'm going to remind everybody here the michael brown incident in st. louis was a tragic one but the bullet holes were in the top of his head showing that he did not have his hands up. he was charging the police officer, period. that's when so much of this started and truth matters when we are dealing with these things. this is infuriating. it's absolutely infuriating. we are allowing a city council to let havoc be reaking in this the town because they don't like law enforcement. it's time for the adults to come back in the room make this country and the city safe. questions to -- excuse me, to ml me when we are dealing with police chases what the policies are in the city?

>> the metropolitan police department has policies on vehicles we are allowed to pursuit when a violent felony is committed and if we believe there's an eminent threat of in. >> tell me about carjackings, what happens with those? >> in certain circumstances pursuit the vehicles. in reality most of the pursuits are called office by management officials. >> because of what reason? >> the perceived danger that there could be or possible bad public relations for a vehicle pursuit. >> you know, i had a condo here in town, there were 5 shootings in three months. my wife would take our dog out just in the median to relieve itself and felt no longer safe from my wife. and i will be damn if i'm going to risk my life serving the people of north carolina and get shot doing it because the city

council here is derelict in their duty. >> just following up with that as far as jurisdictional grounds, what happens if the police chase an individual outside dc and to maryland or any of the surrounded communities? what happens with that chase? >> in certain circumstances metropolitan police officers would be permitted to pursue a vehicle into other jurisdictions but most often in reality those pursuits are called off. >> when you have discussions with the city council, what's the tenure of those? are you immediately because of the role in which you -- which you are placed, are they immediately adversarial? >> yes, many of the meetings that we've made with city council members that we thought would be productive they would send low-ranking staff members and not show up themselves and then we would try to have conversations with those individuals which i would imagine we are not even -- >> it's interesting dc wants

statehood and this is the type of legislative body t that they demonstrate themselves to be. how in hell could people want that -- anything other than reasons than being political that they want t the senate, they have not shown the ability to protect their citizens and, you know, our capitol police do a fantastic job but if our dc police are handled, what am i supposed to think if god forbid my gets carjacked and the criminal who does that is literally slapped on the wrist to go out and do it again? we are inhe nation's capitol for god's sake. i just don't get it. what is the purpose of allowing criminals back on the street■. o repeat their offenses? can you give some examples? i would love to hear, the carjacking thing absolutely destroys me.

..rcular firing squad. i am not allowed to carry a gun unless i go through loops and hoops, but then only in a specific area and i will be damned if i let a criminal hurt my wife, god forbid he tries to

do something to me. i feel sorry for him truth be told, that this should happen this is absolutely against whath the laws of the united states dictate and here we are allowing our own individuals to wreak crime against this nation, and i just don't get it. thank you mr. chairman i will yield back. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for having the hearing. very timely and important. thank you for your service. you know, it's essential that we have the resources here to protect the members of congress, the staff, even the visitors that come to capitol hill and the crime that's in the city has an impact on that. and let me say this, i have the greatest admiration for those that wear the uniform of law enforcement within the city

capitol police. i'm here today because of the bravery and heroism o o of the capital police officers in 2017 who on his own drew fire to allow me to try to get to one of the players who had been already shot. david bailey will remain a hero not only me but to my family and i appreciate their dedication. good to see you again. it's been almost 16 hours. i appreciate any -- you were at the award last night. it's important you will not only be there but to show one thing is even though the jurisdiction may be capitol hill, it really follows anywhere that we go as members, whether it's somewhere else or traveling somewhere

else. so it'scapitol hill but it's the in the area because i was even thinking of this last night has we spoke about the hearing here we are not on capitol hill but with a significant number of congress that are there. i know that the police budget request was 841 million and that's increased substantially over the past five years. can you speak to the challenges that the department is facing that led to that increase? >>t s down to our mission and workload. our mission has expanded into the workload has gone up dramatically. you have heard me talk many times about the number of threats against members of congress and you've heard me talk about the number of demonstrations that we handle

and tactics that these demonstrators seem to escalate which requires a commensurate response from capital the thinge since i got here was to take a more broad approach to the safety of our community and i'm talking about the members of congress, staff, visit■ors. so when they crossed the street and are no longer on the capitol complex, okay that's somebody else's problem. we take responsibility for our community as best we can. a good example is union station. there's lo of activity at union station. some of it is great and some of it is criminal. so, we assist amtrak police and metro and mpd to the best of our

ability. we monitor the radios when we hear over, if we are close by, the cops respond because we want to be able to help. again, they are the best have ao help us when we have the need. so, we want topartners as well, and make sure folks in and around capitol hill when our community is at an event, you'r. >> i know it's beyond just capitol hill because in the recent policy conference several members were there securing us. we have that i'm sure you will be involved in. so yeah, there's a big draw. does mpd face similar challenges that necessitate more funding and is it true that you're at the lowest level of officers that you've been in and 50 years? >> that's correct the lowest

staffing levels we've had in 50 years. and funding would be a problem if we didn't have a shortage of 500 police officers. so not paying those that are supposed to be here i think is saving the city amo lot of mone. but even when the city has thrown money at this right now offering $25,000 signing bonus police officer and that's not moving the needle. the reason is because of this climate and environment created tractive place to work for an current employees or future employees. >> i see my time is expired and i also want to thank you for your response on january 6th. you were an integral part of that. >> the chair yields back. >> thank you i first want to say a heartfelt thank you for capital police and metro police for the jobs that you do. i come from a state that we respect law enforcement and abide by the law.

every week that i get on a plane and fly to dc, my husband wonders if something is going to happen to me while i'm here working serving the people of the congressional district. it is absolutely infuriating to me what is happening to the nation's capital right now. people call my office excited to come this summer to tour the monuments and bring their children and one of the questions they are asking my yot safety? why in the world do we have to have a conversation with visitors to the u.s. the heart of this country worried about safety. it's appalling and i think it should be noted■j the■ majorityf the members have been in and out but we haven't seen the majority of the democratic side attended the hearing nor did they offered a witness to ask questions too. as my colleague mentioned, this

t a safety issue and it was brought up at the beginning of this hearing by the ranking member there was a discussion about gun violence. this isn't a gun violence discussion. this is a prosecute the crimes the individuals are committing in this city problem and reference to that we are arresting young people under the age of 24 and not prosecuting them. the dc city council and the mayor should be held fully accountable for the crimes happening in this city. it's infuriating to me. the chief, i want to start witho suppress or deter crime and the capitol hill area? >> we have the advantage of having a much smaller jurisdiction than other police departments, but as i've said, we certainly understand that we can be of service and help to the neighborhoods in and around capitol hill. we respond to calls that we here

come out in this area, and i think it's important that we work in partnership to help but, and i talk all the time about us being a protection agency, which we are but we cannot ever walk away from our police responsibilities. we are still cops and fight crime, and on this campus if you took the crime rate of things that happened, it's very low. there's not a lot of crime on the campus, it's nonexistent, but there's not aot to the exteh that out to the surrounding neighborhoods, certainly where are going to continue to do that, so it's just understanding that we need to continue to take the police responsibilities very seriously. >> it was mentioned by a couple of my colleagues we have a 50 year low for the number of curr.

are they trying to help augment some of the 500 seen currently? >> to the extent we can absolutely in the area we are patrolling and so we would offer them help t same way they offer us help every day of the week. we are doing our best to work hand-in-hand with them, yes. >> if i can also ask what do you think the proactive measures that can be taken by either members or staff to try to protect the safety of people in and around the capital what should we be doing? >> we offer a fair number of services in terms of escorts and what we call law enforcement coordinations.■h■x me that the participation rate, the request rate for the services is very low so just encouraging your

colleagues a staff members at any event that you all might have to let us know so that we can help either coordinate withe jurisdiction or we can be there ourselves. >> the last thing i want to read which i think it really gets to the heart of the problem has to do with some of the police reforms that have come forward. and i would say dc is prosecuting the crimes, not just these individuals that are being classified as youth under 24, but as well. there's over 15,000 crimes committed accordin of me. but more than 10,000 were not actually prosecuted, and i think that's part of the problem. maybe the dc city council s look at changing the statutes to allow for an elected da to hold

them accountable and with that i yield back. >> the gentlewoman yields back end of the gentleman from the ohio is nowecognized. >> i think the chairman and the ranking member for having this hearing today. i do want to point out a couple things. i happen to be one of those mes that actually lives in a neighborhood very similar to capitol hill in columbus ohio so we have seen the uptick of course and i talked to the police officers there and the recruiting efforts that they are facing is equal to what i think seeing across the country.m also want to point out when you reach a certain age a lot of your staff tend to be about the same age as your children. we had three of our young staffers that were just walking back on capitol hill. one of them is here with were aa homeless guy with a knife. as a father, you hear that and

these professionals but you are mindful. so anyway, along those lines i do have a few questions. i would like to kind of start with you. as we know the capitol police expanded to jurisdiction reaches beyond the capital campus itself into some of tho

neighborhoods. you mentioned this in your written testimony and highlighted and described some of the multiple instances that you've responded to in the

nearby area. what are the greatest challenges you face in these neighborhoods? >> the biggest challenge for us is once you get beyond that extended jurisdiction, and often times we are patrolling beyond their because we have a building where 30 members of congress live so we were patrolling tham. the fact that if something happens often times we have to call for npd to take some sort of action because we don't have the authority that we need. >> with that what would you say the coordination is typically like? >> it's great. but a very quick example, we had the congressional softball game as beyond the jurisdiction we had a group of demonstrators walk onto centerfield and stop the game. we called for them because they didn't have the authority to

arrest them because it was outside of the jurisdiction. what i would like we have several memorandums agreement with npd to be able to add a congressional event we would in fact have the authority to take the action. so we wouldn't have to wait for them to make the arrests. >> i appreciate that. something else to mention i live in a neighborhood similar to capitol hill in the city of columbus. and of course many members do across the country. so, chief, can you describe how the capital police work with our local lawo ensure a member for security in our own districts? >> i appreciate that question. we have dozens, and that number is growing exponentially, dozens of memorandums of agreement that have been signed with state and local police departments from around the country so that we

can request their assistance and they will provide that assistance for an event in a member's home district so that they will provide additional security and we will reimburse them for any cost of that assistance. we work very well with state and local agencies from around the country. and as you may know, we have nationwide jurisdiction to investigate threats against members of congress. but the fact is we don't have the staffing to investigate, to go allvetate and locals and have great relationships all over the country. >> lastly, and i only have a minute left, how many arrests to the capital police make in a typical week from duis or other criminal suspects coming from dc into the nearby campuses? >> traffic offenses including duis, we probably make a dozen or so every week. but imber of arrests over the lt

couple of years has gone up each year. >> and as somebody that was a staffer here in the 1990s, i can tell you it's definitely changed in many ways for the better. but obviously we are seeing this uptick. really a and the work you do with our local security teams. i know we have a person on our stuff that coordinates with you and you've done a fantastic job and i appreciate that. with that i will yield back. >> the former law enforcement officer is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman and all of you for being here today. this is rare, but i have to disagree with my colleagues when theys say that this is and partisan. this is actually in fact partisan because democrats other legislation has created this issue with her it's here in washington, d.c. in the nation's capital or if it's home in new york.

they have passed and promoted pro- criminal anti-law enforcement legislation that ha. law enforcement officers actually where handcuffs on their gun belts to use them against criminals. but democrats in places like new york and washington, d.c. have5m allowed those handcuffs to be put on us to not to do our jobs. and i know of the hearing, we had the beginning of this year it seems crime is down in washington, chief manger, you've been in law enforcement for how many years? >> 45. >> 45. >> 19. >> we will add mine. let's say 80 years on the

job. what a season do we usually see the least amount of crime■: committed especially those on the street? probably the winter, right, when the weather gets nicer, crime tends to spike. so now i don't know that we also talked about guns. one of the issues we are facing with guns throughout this country is that people are getting arrested with illegal firearms and they are not getting prosecuted. we s g streets but very often the criminals who took the firearms are able to walk the streets freely again before the cops or actually done now i know that you were in the violent crime unit similar to the work that i did. if you were to take a guess, an estimation how many firearms, how many guns arrests have you been a part of in your career? >> i would have to say over a

thousand. >> my number is probably a little less. you have more time on the job. my next this over the thousand gun arrests that you were part of, how many of those individuals, when you went to a license to carry that gun? >> zero. a slogan licensing really would have nothing to do with the carrying of firearms because those who are breaking the law don't care what the gun laws are, correct? >> that's correct. >> all of the guns that you've recovered i guess we should focus more recently here in washington, d.c. because it seemed like the other side of the aisle wants to talk about assault weapons, they want to talk about high-capacity firearms when in fact much of the time the people who speak the most, and i'm not talking about mr. marelli at all. i have great respect for him but there are people who would love to speak about high-capacity weapons. they love to talk about guns in mass shootings but in fact they

really don't know much about firearms or the guns that they are speaking of. so in the arrests that have been made by the npd, how many over the last year would have been you can give an estimate. i'm sure you don't have the number off the top your head. >> i know last year we recovered 3200■'■ firearms. i don't remember how many were handcuffs but i would venture to guess at least 90%. >> covered last year in washington, d.c. you said 3200 so 90% of them were handguns. illegal firearms not one of those people probably presented a license to carry it. >> i think that's fair, yes. >> a lot of those individuals were repeat offenders they've been arrested and part of the criminal justice system because over the last few years, legislation implemented by democrats throughout this country has made this less safe. it's a fact.

i know that you mentioned in your opening statement about the dwindling number of police officers. why do you think we have a number of dwindling police officers? >> i think a lot of it has to do with the rhetoric and the environments created by the havl experience. >> exactly right it's the rhetoric into the policy that's being created. it's the rhetoric that is being spewed by democrats here on capitol hill, by anti-cop people throughout this country and the policies not only policy because now we are talking about war but actually things on the books people took pens come up with them to paper and passed legislation to make the country less safe to make the jarder ano give criminals free reign to do whatever it is they want without any repercussions. it's why right here on capitol hill you can't go to cvs and get a batteries because they are locked up because people go into stores and take whatever they right out. that is the country.

that is the city that the democrats have created. and i blame it and say it's partisan because they are the ones that have carried the banner and have passed this legislation and they are the ones that have doubled down and said we are going to continue to do this. my time is expired. i will yield back. >> thank you mr. chairman and to our witnesses who joined us here today for your important testimony and also your efforts to fight crime, violent crime and your work to ensure that those that live and visit the nation's capital can do so in a way that is safe. i would also today a program with chief manger the special assistant and how that is a program that you were utilizing to actually help ensure that you were keeping member government officd the public safe.

would you please describe for us the special assistant united states attne were using in field offices in tampa, sacramento and dc the department of justice has designated our subject matter experts on the threats cases. we've had great success with them. in tampa they've worked multiple cases in the middle district of florida leading to guilty pleas and threats cases involving a threat against members of congress and other officials and in one case a threat against a supreme court had again great s. in dc the primary portfolio includes managing the threat portal for u.s. attorney's office and the district of columbia. the number of cases involving

members of congress as victims, congressional staff members victims and crimes that occurred on capitol grounds. we have our own prosecutor to make sure those cases go forward. >> do you foresee or w see an e program into additional cities across america? >> i think as the workload presents itself, it's a very efficient way for us to handle the cases so not every investigator, not every attorney is flying out from dc. we have folks around the country that can be on the scene working these cases. ould you describe i believe they also provide training to agents and investigators in the threat assessment section. how they are working to help train the agents and investigators? >> they are the subject matter experts on the cases and we get as everybody here knows you get

threats and concerning calls and directions of interest that are very■e concerning. these attorneys train their officers to know when it crosses the line from being just free speech or something concerning to something that is a criminal threat. >> in your assessment, has the program is implemented thus far been a successful in addressing some of the rising threats against members in congress? >> absolutely. we have better success in terms of prosecution now than we did before we had thisou think that a change, why that a better rate of success is happening? >> this is their primary job. te with attorneys that had a huge caseload and sometimes they just looked at our case rise to the level of being a priority

for me because i'm prosecuting much more serious cases. this way we have folks there priority is working threats against members of congress. >> last fall the committee on the house administration held a briefing for members and staff regarding the rise in crime in washington, d.c. it included the safety tests to protect oneself against carjackings and the proliferation of other things like the robberies we' b seeing here in the district. would you like to provide any additional insight on how visitors to the nation's capital can protect themselves from these types of violent crimes? >> unfortunately i can't do that i don't have any expertise giving advice on personal security but t o is to urge the policymakers and representatives in congress to push harder on anti-crime measures■y as i mentioned in my testimony, it is very clear the criminal justice system's capability of

dealing with repeat offenders has been eroded for quite some time that's why you see the most heinous crimes committed by people that have ten, 15, 20, prior arrests. one of the most effective is with respect to this issue putting pressure on their elected officials to make some changes and stop the problem where it is. much. i yield back. >> we are in the home stretch your of the hearing but i would like to recognize the ranking member for brief closing remarks. >> thank you all for being here. this is a complicated and nuanced issue, no doubt. the more resources would be clearly helpful. she pointed out in interesting points as it relates to the u.s. attorneys which is why i'm so strongly opposed to the 320 million-dollar cut that was proposed by the house republicans for the u.s. attorneys who do great work all across the country including prosecuting crimes here in washington, d.c.

i did and i'm sorry that he left but since he raised a couple of things first as it related to 2024 crime statistics, he talked about the seasonality. i was comparing the same period of time from january 1 to march 21, so basic statistics you want to compare things and that's what i did so i understand there will be seasonal justice. what he raised another thing that said this is a partisan issue and condemned democrats and blamed us for the crime issue. i wasn't going to raise this, but i am now.■ violent crime is obviously of concern to all of us. but i know it looked at a 21 years of crime data and at the peak of the violent crime strike in 2020, murder rates were 40% higher to the states that voted for the former president trump in 2020 as opposed to blue states defined as those that voted for joe biden.

the states exceeded the murder rate in the states that voted for joe biden every year for two decades from 2020. of course those 21 years the per capita murr rate in trump states was 23% higher than biden's states. even if you remove murders in the largest cities from the equation, those dominated by democrats were 12% higher across the 21 year period than biden states which included those democratic-controlled areas. i ask unanimous consent the two decade red state problem into the record and i would say again -- >> without objection. >> this is nuanced. supporting more resources and i will continue to do that. i believe we should have zero tolerance for crime in general. so i don't disagree with many of the comments made by the prosecution. but it is impossible to look at the crime problem in the united states without looking at gun

safety measures that are common sense. we have 400 million guns in the united states today. that's more than a single gun for every man, woman and child in the united states. i have a family of hunters and people take this very seriously. most people do take gun violenc. but we have a problem and not to acknowledge it and to suggest that the only reason we have problem is democrats in urban areas i think is irresponsible and is beneath the approach that needs to be taken by the congress to address these problems. but again, thank you for the hearing and thank you again to the witnesses for your service and i yield back. >> the gentleman y i think you for your attendance. i will note if we are debating if this is a partisan issue i think it is telling one democrat showed up willing to defend the soft on crime policies in the dc city council.

the rest of the entire democrats on this committee ducked out. why? because it's pretty darn tough to defend a 24-year-old male who uses a gun to carjack someone being treated as a youth and that is the policy here in the crime policies. it's pretty tough to defend the fact that the average homicide suspect in the nation's capital has been arrested 11 times before. it's pretty hard to defend the massive rise on crime w in washington, d.c. over the last four years after a 2020 council and the mayor cut the budget for the law enforcement ficers in the nation's capital. so it's not surprising to me that only one democrat on the committee showed partisan becaue democrats and the radical left if driven through the soft on

crime policies and what we have seen here is the empirical data of what happens when you do that and you combine that with an anti-police rhetoric from those on the left that we documented here today, what the impact is on the morale of law enforcement officers and how hard it is to recruit men and women to join the law enforcement community, to walk out the door every day not knowing what the call will be but knowing they are going to answer the call on all of our behalf and everyone, visitors, staff members, members in congress have the right to feel safe in our nation's capital. and right now, far too many don't feel safe and they don't feel safe because of the policies put forward by liberals in the dc city council that allowed crime to spike in the nation's capital. as the chairman and the committee i can tell you i'm committed to making sure that you have the resources you need

to be able to do your job and wo put pressure and pass laws as we have to overturn soft on policies. we've been successful once and vetoed by the president of the united states and other time but we are going to continue our efforts to make sure that everyone, visitors, staff members, members alike are safe here in the nation's capit. on behalf of i think all the members who showed up, i want to say thank you to the law enforcement officers at the metropolitan police department, the men and women who were out there every day whose jobs are hard and in particular because of the policies and the soft on crime policies that have been advocated by the city council. i will pause them and once again thank the witnesses for appearing befores were very hel. the members may have additional questions and we ask that you

please respond to those in writing and without objection each member has five legislative days to revise or extend their remarks. now pursuant to paragraph c of rule 14 th committee, i will hereby appoint the committee and assistant parliamentarian on the committee of the housing administration. pursuant to paragraph b of rule 14 i hereby appoint the deputy clerk in the kennedy house administration. without objection both will be placed in the record and available to all committee members. no further business they want to thank the members for their participation and without objection, the committee stands adjourned.

[inaudible conversations]