Off-Duty or On-Duty, No One Should Be Shocked By How the Police Acted During the Coup at the Capitol

By Ameer Hasan Loggins

The news of off-duty police officers from around the country making the pernicious pilgrimage to Washington D.C. to participate in the armed and deadly takeover of the United States Capitol should come as a shock to no one. Nor should the grace that was granted to the angry clan of neo-Confederate Trump loyalists by some of the on-duty Capitol police during the attempted coup d’etat.

Amidst the madness, one of the Capitol police officers took a selfie with someone who was part of the mob that stormed the Capitol. Another policeman was seen wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and was directing people around the besieged building.

Again, this news should come as a shock to no one.

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the largest and oldest police union in the U.S., endorsed Donald Trump for president in both 2016 and in 2020. But endorsing Trump is not the first time that they publicly put their white supremacist politics on display.

In 1966, the FOP invited Alabama segregationist Governor George Wallace to speak at its national convention. In that speech, Wallace received a standing ovation when he told the audience that if “the police of this…