After the dust has settled a week after the violent attacks at the US Capitol, military branches and state police departments have been busy running investigations on people from US authorities who are assumed to be involved in the incident.
Reports of former and off-duty members of law enforcement entities directly participating in the riots have been emerging since the incident last week.
The reports have highlighted an underestimated threat that has been a concern for a long time: white supremacy and extremism lurking within American security forces.
A former Homeland Security domestic terrorism team leader, Daryl Johnson said, “We’ve neglected this threat for ten years. Ignored it, minimized it, turned a blind eye to it. This administration has actually coddled these people, calling them special”.
Christian Picciolini, who works with The Free Radicals Project, said that the involvement of ex-military and police personnel in the January 6 riots was not a surprise to him. He said, “It has long been an effort by white supremacists to infiltrate and recruit from the pool of law enforcement, military and other first responders”.
Several officers are under the scanner of the authorities and some already suspended for taking photos and videos with the violent protesters which portrayed a sense of agreement.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have previously warned of white supremacist groups infiltrating the police departments and military, however, no action was taken regarding the warnings.
Vida Johnson, an Associate law professor at Georgetown University said, “When that 2006 report came out it was just after 9/11 and no one wanted to focus on domestic terrorism. The new Obama administration didn’t have the political capital to take that on, particularly with a Black president. So here we are 11 years after that, having taken no concrete steps to weed white supremacists out of policing or the military.”
Experts have said that the problem has existed long before Trump took office but his administration has provided the required push for the notion to take off significantly.
Southern Poverty Law Center member, Lecia Brooks said, “He’s directly responsible for it. He invited everyone to the Capitol… and the Stop The Steal campaign (to overturn the results of the presidential election) has been an intentional disinformation campaign meant to rile people up.”
Johnson pointed out that the demographics of Trump’s supporters and law enforcement agencies overlap as they are both dominated by white men.
Daryl Johnson recalled reaching out to a police department in 2017 when his research found more than 100 officers identifying themselves on social media as Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government extremist group known for recruiting military and law enforcement members.
They said the posts fell under the First Amendment, he told AFP, despite his warning that their allegiance to the Oath Keepers could come before the department.
Other experts have also dismissed the argument.
Heath Taylor, a former homocide detective said, “If you took that job to protect citizens, even if you’re a Trump supporter, your job is to protect all citizens”.
With the problem finally receiving attention, experts are calling for renewed efforts to tackle it.
Taylor blamed much of the problem on police unions, which some observers say protect bad officers.
Also Read: Donald Trump’s ex-doctor, who declared him ‘healthiest’ president ever, dies at 73
They “continue the divide between the police and the community,” she said, calling for departments to have a zero tolerance policy for racist social media posts, and for accused officers to be put on unpaid leave while any investigation is conducted.
Vida Johnson also pointed to police unions, noting that they bar many issues of police discipline from being revealed to the public, and said better officer screening must take place.
Daryl Johnson, for his part, feared the Capitol riot was only the beginning of a darker period.
He said, “What happened at the Capitol is a radicalization and recruitment opportunity for these groups. They think they did something righteous and good. They think they’re patriots.”
