The Capitol Police, facing a flood of violent threats against members of Congress that is expected to rise with the upcoming November elections, have begun hiring prosecutors dedicated to going after people who threaten lawmakers. Frustrated that threat cases viewed as serious by the police often do not lead to punishment, the agency has added three attorneys and detailed them to the Department of Justice to pursue such cases that specifically focus on the unique types of threats faced by federal lawmakers, The New York Times reports. The hires are part of an array of security changes the agency has implemented to better protect members of Congress in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The Capitol Police are requesting $906 million next fiscal year, an increase of more than $60 million over what they sought last year. That total includes the salaries of three prosecutors, two who were hired last year and one this year, who are responsible for ensuring that suspects accused of making credible threats to members of Congress are punished in court.
Last year, the Capitol Police investigated 8,008 threat cases, the second-highest total on record in the agency’s history. That number, which includes investigations into concerning statements and direct threats, is expected to increase this year in line with a general uptick that precedes elections. But only a fraction of those threats, just 27% of the serious, specific ones that the police referred to federal prosecutions in 2023, for example, were ever prosecuted. It can be difficult to distinguish violent language from credible threats of violent action, the officials said, and to determine when a menacing individual might shift from words to deeds. “Multiple postings turns into, now they’re driving by a location or they’re researching the members’ families and their history and it’s starting to escalate,” Ashan M. Benedict, one of the office’s newly hired assistant chief of protective and intelligence operations said. “When our agents see things starting to escalate, that is going to be very concerning to us. And that’s what I find probably more shocking, is that it’s happening with more frequency.”