'Recipe for disaster': Capitol Police union rejects plan to rely on private contractors

The union representing Capitol Police officers warned the department is significantly understaffed, but it rejected proposals to rely upon private security contractors to bridge the gap.

“We’ve never seen a threat environment like this and given the profound division in this country, this may very well be our new normal," union Chair Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement obtained by Politico. “My biggest fear right now is a lack of manpower to meet the rising threat levels. The USCP is authorized to have 2,072 officers. On January 6th we were 233 officers below that level. As an officer on duty that day, I can tell you we could have used every one of those officers.”

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Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger floated an idea to use security guards at "secondary" locations during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.

"We need to hire more officers – period. The last thing we need are private security contractors who are not trained to our standards. It's a recipe for disaster. In law enforcement, we have to trust the men and women next to us. That trust enabled us, along with our partner agencies, to hold back the attackers on January 6th long enough to safely evacuate all Members of Congress and the Vice President," Papathanasiou said.