'I'm Going In Circles Here': Markwayne Mullin Grills USCP Chief On Plan To Hire 288 New Officers

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) spoke about the Capitol Police's plan to add 288 new officers.

Transcript

00:00The Conception of the Librarian was formed by Thomas Jefferson in 1902.

00:04It was a lifetime appointment.

00:06It was a lifetime appointment until President Obama changed it in 2015,

00:11and they made the Librarian where it was at the service and at the will of the President.

00:17There was no objection by this side at that time when that was taken care of,

00:21so it was well within the President's authority to be able to let go of the Librarian.

00:25There is no separation of powers because that appointment for the Librarian

00:28has always been appointed by the President of the United States.

00:31So just for historical purposes, I didn't want to get into it,

00:34but it's been brought up twice.

00:36I think that's an important piece of information that's being left out here.

00:41Chief, you just said that your objection is to hire,

00:45part of your reason for asking for the increase is to hire 288 new officers.

00:50Is that correct?

00:51That's correct.

00:52Your recruiting classes are full month after month, is that correct?

00:56They are, yes.

00:57Okay, so you're not having a recruiting issue, right?

01:00We are not.

01:01And really, if you break down the 288, for 288 employees,

01:06you have 996 roughly overtime hours, actually over 996,000, actually,

01:12overtime hours that you paid out last year at a tune of 84 point,

01:16let's just round the number, 84.3 million dollars.

01:20Just quick math.

01:23If you did 288 employees, and you times it by 52, which they don't work 52 weeks a year,

01:29but just times it by 52, and you give them 50 hours a week, that just comes up to 748,000 hours right there.

01:35So, for not having a recruiting issue, then we have all your classes are full.

01:42We can get there underneath the current budget you have right now, put an additional 288 people on the force.

01:47They still are able to get overtime at a tune of 50 hours a week.

01:50That's including with the officers you have today, because your officers you have today, if you take that and you divide it up,

01:55they average right at 50 hours a week, 40.8 hours is actually.

02:00And I know this is different from protective service guys that are doing protective versus the uniform.

02:05But my point is, if we look at restructuring it, rather than just asking for us to throw more money at it,

02:10it's saving the taxpayer dollars.

02:13But we can't do it because your recruiting classes are completely full.

02:17And you're only, we're only be able to go through the recruiting classes.

02:24You have two places that you put these things, that you put your recruits through, right?

02:30Fletzi and Shelton, Fletzi and Georgia, and then Shelton.

02:33And we're limited on numbers there.

02:35Have we looked at having an additional place?

02:37Because obviously, like I said, you're not having a recruiting number,

02:39you're recruiting an issue because your classes are full.

02:42So we can't ever get to the 288 if we're at maximum capacity right now.

02:47So what's our option?

02:50One of the findings in a recent training needs assessment that we completed is that we're,

03:00the facilities are the choke point for us.

03:04Right, but I mean, we looked at getting a different facility,

03:06a different place to send our recruits to.

03:09Yeah, well, we could look at that.

03:11I mean, Fletzi has just historically been,

03:14the federal law enforcement training centers is where we train all federal law enforcement officers.

03:19But if they're not able to meet the need, then the definition of insanity is doing the same thing,

03:24expecting different results.

03:25They're not able to meet the need.

03:27And they're not able to recruit fast enough.

03:29We have to change because instead you're paying out 996,000 hours of overtime,

03:35which is a tune of 84 plus million dollars.

03:38And you could easily get the other 288 officers in place with the budget you have right now,

03:43by just cutting down people's overtime, which would also help their quality of life,

03:47because they're going to be able to be home a little bit more,

03:50at the same time still get the overtime at 50 hours a week.

03:53And so there's math here that actually works.

03:57But we can't do it unless you're willing to change and look outside what we've always done.

04:02Well, the change that I'm dealing with is the growing caseload.

04:06I mean, this is not a static workload that doesn't change every year.

04:10It is increasing every year.

04:12If you had a caseload, you'd need 288 additional officers, right?

04:17And we're trying to make up for deficits that continue, especially in the dignitary protection.

04:21But you can't get there.

04:22That's what I'm getting at.

04:23If you can't, if your recruiting classes are 100% full,

04:27you'll never be able to get there unless we look at a different place

04:30to start putting these recruits through a different class.

04:33I understand what you're saying, but we are making progress in terms of getting ahead of attrition every year

04:39with the 288 people that we're putting through.

04:42By what numbers?

04:43Typically, our attrition numbers, and I can get them to you,

04:50are around usually 130, 140 people who leave so that we're coming out.

04:56Just estimating we're coming out at least 100 officers ahead each year.

05:02So, at that rate, if you kept the current load and your current assessment, risk assessment stays,

05:10it'd still take you three years to get hired up?

05:13I estimate that by the end of FY27, we would be close.

05:18Well, you can't do it if your recruiting classes are full and your attrition rate's at 134

05:21and you're bringing in 220, I thought 220-some new recruits every year.

05:26You're less than 100 and you need 288.

05:29Just simple math there says it's going to take over three years.

05:31In fact, it's going to take three and a half years.

05:33Well, we are making progress every year in terms of getting closer to the staff.

05:39But why haven't we looked at getting a new place to send the recruits is what I'm getting at.

05:42Just because we go, this is what, it's like I'm going in circles here.

05:45I don't understand why we're not trying to find new places to put the recruits through

05:52so we can have a higher amount hired each year.

05:55If we need 288 today, then what are we going to need in three years from now?

06:00You're never going to get caught up with that.

06:02If there is some place that will give us the certificate that allows us to certify these police officers

06:08as federal law enforcement officers, another facility, I'm happy to look at it.

06:12I'm good with it, too.

06:13And I think we can help you find one.

06:15We just need to start looking.

06:16I yield.

06:17Mr. Chairman, I would be very happy to work with you.

06:22And we just happen to have a federal law enforcement training center in Artesia, New Mexico,

06:28that we would love to make sure meets the requirements of the U.S. Capitol Police.

06:33Honestly, let's look at it.

06:34Absolutely.

06:35I mean, if we want to take a field hearing there, let's go.

06:37I'm not saying that adjust.

06:38They do great work.

06:39I know that there's...

06:40If we had one in Oakland...

Category

Transcript

Recommended