Norton Says Plan for Capitol Police on the Mall Due Tuesday - July 24, 2006

Norton Says Plan for Capitol Police on the Mall Due Tuesday
July 24, 2006

Washington, DC-Following her request that the Capitol Police assist U.S. Park Police in response to assaults on the National Mall, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that she has spoken with top staff in the Office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) who said that the Speaker would not be opposed to Capitol Police assisting the Park Police force. Norton also spoke with Park Police officials today and learned that Park Police expect to have a plan for how Capitol Police could work with Park Police by tomorrow. In addition, Park Police officials told Norton that Capitol Police had agreed to allow Park Police to process suspects in Capitol Police facilities in order to limit the time Park Police officers will be away from their posts with paperwork and other duties following arrests.

Last week, in a letter to the Capitol Police Board, Norton formally requested temporary Capitol Police assistance for the Park Police during the evening hours, in response to five muggings and assaults on the Mall during May and July. Norton wrote that such "temporary assistance would be a natural extension of the Capitol Police mission to protect Members of Congress and visitors to the Capitol because, overwhelmingly, the victims of the recent attacks have been visitors to the nation's capital, and virtually all of the visitors to the Mall also visit the Capitol and are constituents of Members of the House and Senate."

The Congresswoman said that she appreciated the movement on her request but is concerned that some bureaucratic and administrative hurdles could cause further delay, leaving Park Police borrowing their own officers from troubled D.C. parks, like Anacostia Park and others in the region, that are more dangerous than the Mall. Norton will continue to work to assure that protecting the Mall does not come at the expense of Park Police jurisdictions in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.