Democratic senators are demanding U.S. Park Police suspend their D.C. recruitment blitz and accuse the Trump administration of “hijacking this federal police force for its own authoritarian purposes,” according to a letter sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Monday morning.
The calls come after The Washington Post reported in October that the force is seeking to double its ranks in the nation’s capital over the next six months with a goal of becoming “the premier law enforcement agency in D.C.” — keeping the city safe “regardless of inaction” by the local police department and local elected officials, records show.
“The administration is on a deliberate hiring spree to exploit the U.S. Park Police’s jurisdiction and turn it into a tool of the President for him and his ideological extremists to impose their will on the streets of D.C.,” reads the letter. The lead author was Sen. Jeffrey Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Interior Department, within which Park Police belongs.
Three Democratic senators co-signed with Merkley: Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ron Wyden of Oregon. In addition to demanding a hiring suspension, the letter includes dozens of questions about the associated costs and operational objectives, given the Park Police a Dec. 19 deadline to provide answers. Lawmakers also asked if there are plans to hire additional officers in other parts of the country. At present, Park Police has offices only in the D.C. region, New York and San Francisco.
The effort marks the second time in recent months that Democratic lawmakers have scrutinized Park Police.
The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment Monday morning. A department spokesperson previouslytold The Post: “We continue to work closely with federal, state and local partners to safeguard public lands, respond to emergencies, and assist in law-enforcement operations consistent with our authorities and established agreements.”
Park Police is tasked with protecting national parkland and monuments. Since the president declared a crime emergency in D.C. in August, though, the agency has tightened its relationship with immigration enforcement and restructured to move its leadership one step closer to the White House. Burgum also rolled back police chase policies that allowed pursuits only for people wanted for violent felonies — a decision the department has championed as expanding their ability to apprehend criminals but drew swift criticism and a spurred a separate Congressional probe.
The expansion strategy set out to recruit, train and retain an additional 450 officers in D.C. — though that goal has since shrunk to 300, according to the police union. Even with the most optimistic expansion, the city police force would remain more than four times larger than the Park Police.
Interior Department employees who had been furloughed during the government shutdown were called back to work to process new Park Police hires, two agency staffers familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private personnel actions previously told The Post.
The hiring blitz is a necessary boost following decades of concerns about understaffing, Kenneth Spencer, chief of staff for government affairs at the U.S. Park Police Fraternal Order of Police and former union chairman, said in October. He said the force was overlooked by previous administrations, Republican and Democratic alike.
The Park Police website now boasts of a $70,000 hiring bonus, promotion potential and a “streamlined, virtual hiring process with quick turnaround” — a process that has stirred consternation among the senators.
“This haste in both a hiring spree and waiving of critical testing and standards are clear signs that the administration is hijacking this federal police force for its own authoritarian purposes,” reads their letter. Merkley recently delivered a nearly 23-hour speech on the Senate floor in October, saying he was “ringing the alarm bells” on the arrival of authoritarianism under Trump.
“There is no psychological testing or physical fitness testing. In fact, applicants are allowed to submit a ‘self-attestation’ in place of an in-person physical fitness test, an affront to the gold standard of federal law enforcement hiring,” the letter states.
It continues: “How is the Service ensuring that new hires can carry out the essential functions of the position?”
Hannah Natanson contributed reporting.
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