At least 70 Capitol Police officers have resigned or retired since the Jan. 6 insurrection, the union said. “What keeps me awake at night is not the challenge of hiring and training more police officers, but keeping the officers we have right now,” USCP Labor Committee Chairman Gus Papathanasiou said in a Thursday statement obtained by CNN. “We have many officers on the fence about whether to stay with this department.”
The chairman added that this mass exodus stems from low morale in the department after the Capitol riots and the fact that almost a quarter of active officers are set to retire within a few years. “These more senior officers joined right after the 9/11 attack 20 years ago and have seen two of their colleagues die in the line of duty this year. They’re now facing 6-day work weeks and double shifts for the foreseeable future. Many questions why they should stay,” Papathanasiou added. The damning statement comes just after House lawmakers voted in favor of establishing a 9/11-style independent commission to examine the Jan. 6 siege. The commission, however, has been opposed by many top Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the bill will likely not pass the Senate.
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