Dear Chief Sund:

I write with grave concerns about your leadership and the conduct of the United States Capitol Police. Along with the rest of the nation, I witnessed sweeping failures to perform the agency’s core mission as an armed insurrection took over the United States Capitol: to protect the United States Congress, its members, staff, and facilities, as well as District of Columbia residents – and ultimately, our democratic values.

The world watched in horror, unable to act, as armed domestic terrorists proceeded to storm the Capitol, scale its fences and walls, break windows, and take the building and both hallowed chambers by force. It came on a day when the Congress was facilitating a sacred duty, one everyone knew was likely to see serious efforts of disruption. While there were certainly individual acts of bravery by U.S. Capitol Police officers to protect the Capitol and its occupants, we also watched as officers quite literally moved security fences to allow armed terrorists to gain entry, held open doors and escorted them so they could move freely, posed for photographs with them inside the Capitol, and failed to arrest them. This was a white supremacist coup -- invited and incited by the sitting President of the United States – to which the U.S. Capitol Police force was wholly unprepared to respond and which some of your members appeared to actively facilitate. The confederate flag, which never reached the Capitol during the Civil War, made it to those hallowed halls under your watch. It is striking how differently your officers treated these terrorists because of the color of their skin. Many peaceful protestors, visitors, and District residents have not been similarly welcomed on or around the Capitol grounds.

Ultimately, your leadership failures put elected officials, congressional staff, your own officers and those of the Metropolitan Police Department, and my constituents at great personal risk. I expect immediate accountability, including a complete explanation of yesterday’s events.

Sincerely,

Charles Allen