The Fraternal Order of Police of the US Park Police has spoken out to explain why anti-Israel protesters were free to destroy statues and attack officers without arrest in Lafayette Square, a park directly across from the White House. The police union told The Blaze News that police were “rigged to fail” to contain the mob.
On Saturday, more than 9,000 anti-Israel and pro-Hamas protesters gathered near the White House to protest the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. As is common at such large protests, some in the crowd began vandalizing statues of Rochambeau, General Lafayette, and former U.S. President Andrew Jackson.
“It’s very unfortunate. It’s a further blow to our already low morale…”
Park police attempted to make an arrest, but were quickly surrounded by the mob, and the suspect fled. The crowd then chased the officers out of the park. As the officers left, the crowd chanted “Fuck the police!” and “Go kill yourself!”.
Police were on scene but did not enter Lafayette Square until the protest had ended.
In a video released Sunday, the USPP FOP revealed that only 71 officers were assigned to the area, primarily due to long-standing staffing shortages. But beyond that, the USPP command staff did not deploy civil disturbance units and no riot gear was issued to officers on Saturday.
USPP FOP Chairman Kenneth Spencer, one of the officers who was attacked and chased away, told Blaze Media in an interview that the officers were “100 percent” set up to fail.
“It’s extremely frustrating. Not having the resources we needed to get out there and do our job effectively has been a blow to our already low morale. We have had to watch as the resources we are meant to protect have been damaged and destroyed,” Spencer said.
“My members are furious. They feel they have not been supported logistically or operationally. We simply did not have the support we needed to carry out our mission effectively,” he added.
Spencer did not say whether there were any political factors behind the officers’ lack of preparation: “I don’t know where that determination came from. … So right now I don’t know why this happened.”
Neither the National Park Service, the Park Police’s parent agency, nor the Department of the Interior responded to requests for comment by publication time.
Ultimately, Spencer said, officers don’t feel supported by their command staff, and the staff “left us behind.” Congress has recognized the severe staffing shortage, but unlike other federal law enforcement agencies, no action has been taken to increase pay or provide incentives to encourage officers to stay.
The Park Police is 200 personnel short, a large number for a small department with federal and local jurisdiction, a broad patrol area in three major cities, and the responsibility of protecting some of the nation’s most iconic monuments and parks, which attract large numbers of tourists from around the country and the world.
Mr Spencer warned that current staff are concerned about the department’s future if steps are not taken to address staffing issues.
“We need better facilities. … The way we do things is [in general] It’s not completely safe,” he noted.
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