31 police officers are under investigation over their suspected involvement in the Capitol riot, as departments face pressure to weed out white nationalists

Tom Porter
Updated ·2 min read
Capitol riot
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm the US Capitol in Washington D.C on January 6, 2021. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

  • At least 31 law-enforcement officers are suspected of playing a role in the Capitol riot, per the Associated Press.

  • Several off-duty cops have been found to be involved in the attack on the US government.

  • Police departments are under pressure to filter out recruits who belong to white-nationalist groups.

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At least 31 police officers in law-enforcement agencies across the US are under investigation over their suspected role in the January 6 Capitol riot, reported the Associated Press.

In the wake of the riot, it emerged that several off-duty police officers and members of the US military had been involved in the pro-Trump protest that spiralled into attack on the US government.

Investigators are seeking to establish whether officers only attended the rally where Trump spoke, or whether they were involved in the subsequent violence at the Capitol.

A Capitol Police officer and Trump supporter were killed in the unrest, and three more people died in medical emergencies.

According to the AP, officers from Los Angeles, a small community in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma are among those under investigation.

On Friday, the Seattle police said that two officers had been placed on leave while their involvement in the riot is investigated.

Two Virginia police officers who posted a selfie inside the Capitol during the attack were also arrested and charged earlier this month.

Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson

The FBI has launched a wide-ranging investigation to identify and arrest those involved in the riot.

Read more: I went inside the US Capitol's immense security bubble to cover the most surreal presidential inauguration of my lifetime. Here's what I saw.

The Capitol riot has also raised questions about the infiltration of police forces by white-nationalist and far-right groups.

Members of extremist movements were among the rioters on January 6, with protesters carrying flags or wearing insignia of far-right groups.

Experts have warned that far-right infiltration of US police is a problem that has long been ignored, and that measures need to be introduced to screen potential police recruits for affiliation with white nationalist groups.

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