Evolve my leadership style to ensure our success with meeting the mission, the needs of the workforce and the community. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I would be very happy to answer any questions the committee may have at this time. Thank you very much, chief. I appreciate that. I think ill just start off about the unattended firearms which was probably, if anything, one of the bigger concerns, since ive been here on the hill. You were just outlining what you would normally do in a case like that. I think you said five days suspension. Something like that. Im sure that depends on the personnel record of that particular individual, if there had been incidents in the past or not, et cetera. But its also my understanding that some of these incidents happened with members of the force that were on sort of special detail with leadership. And is there any do you give that consideration . Or what do you do in a case like that . Yes, maam. First of all, obviously each and every one of those is or will be or is in the process of being fully investigated. That is step one. Then we have a very good disciplinary process which actually prior to promoting assistant chief vertirosa, i asked him to look at reengineering the discipline process to make sure it was effective and efficient and fast moving as possible. One of the changes while we had an excellent system i found that it was somewhat fragmented and for an agency our size of the importance in terms of the disciplinary process, i believe that a centralized disciplinary process was necessary. So the assistant chief has put together a process which essentially centralizes the review process which i think is better for all of the members of the agency. Makes for a better system. That being said, the process includes, as you mentioned, looking at the douglas factors which come out of douglas versus Veterans Administration case. As you may be aware. Our collective Bargaining Agreement ensures that at least four of those are considered. Which include the members record, whether the act as willful or on purpose or not. Those kinds of things. So the members record is taken into consideration. How long theyve been on the department, their disciplinary record, what kind of act took place, its impact on the agencys ability to perform its mission, and those kinds of things. And then punishment is given out. Weve been very diligent in both investigating not only these matters but other matters and meting out appropriate punishment. You know, just reading these media reports. Obviously were all biological human beings so everyone has to go to the bad room. Some of these incidents happened in a bathroom. So i dont know. Maybe this isnt right question, do you have a lockbox . Are you going through a process is that already in place . Yes, maam. Or happens whether its in a bathroom or wherever they are that they have to take off their firearm for some short period of time and how its accounted for safely. That is a great question. We do provide lockboxes to our officers. Those are generally kept in their homes. There are lockboxes around in various Office Locations so if someone has time they may have the ability to go secure their weapon before they go to the bathroom. But as i mentioned in my opening testimony, we are now providing additional training on what to do when you have to go to the bathroom. Obviously while these acts were not done on purpose they are unacceptable. One cannot leave your weapon anywhere. It has to be secured at all times. So those acts will be dealt with firmly and effectively. But weve enhanced the training but weve made that now additional training as part of our biannual certification process and were creating Online Training that everyone will go through once a year as well. Weve enhanced and reinforced the whole discussion of weapons safety because thats extremely critical, obviously. Okay. My second question then would be about the gyrocopter incident. Again, you and i have talked about this. Weve had a brief about it. Weve talked about it at length. But as i continue to sort of contemplate what could have happened, what it meant, et cetera, what it could mean in the future, et cetera, i guess i do have a couple of questions. In regards to the officers that actually did respond as i said, in my opinion, from a layman i dont understand your business but it certainly looked as though the Capitol Police that responded did everything they were supposed to do flawlessly once the gyrocopter landed. So did you have im wondering how much advance notice that the Capitol Police had, again, understanding that the restricted airspace is not your responsibility. Im not trying to throw some other agency under the bus. But i would like to know to the extent that you can enlighten us how much advance notice Capitol Police had that this gyrocopter was coming. If boots on the ground understood that it was coming or what exactly happened there and the critical moments before this gyrocopter did land. Thank god, it was nobody that really meant us harm. But who knows. Yes, maam. As you know chief, i also serve as vice chair of the Homeland Security security. So from a Homeland Security standpoint, put my other hat on here for a moment, what in the world. And the afteraction reports perhaps that you did with your with the men and women that did respond. Yes, maam. Lot of Great Questions right there. Let me first say from the outset let me touch on notification process so i can tell you once again. We fixed that the next day. Working with the deputy chief, we directed that notifications be given out immediately. So we apologize for that. Thats not acceptable for you to find out actually that was not my question. I appreciate that. Im talking about how much notification the Capitol Police had about the gyrocopter coming. Yes, maam. The notification to the gyrocopter, that day at i believe 12 59 hours we received an email from someone claiming to be a reporter asking questions did we have any knowledge about a gyrocopter landing. The information did not provide a time or date or indicate that landing was imminent or anything like that. It was more about, are you aware that this might be happening, and does the person have permission to do that . That email went to our Public Information officer, lieutenant kimberly snyder, who sent it to our investigations division. About a minute later we got a call in our command center apparently from the same individual asking generic type questions, does somebody have a permit to land . Again, did not give a date or time or indicate that a landing was imminent. That information was also forwarded then to our investigations division. As those things were began to be looked into, minutes later, frankly, the gyrocopter landed. Now while on the west front about a minute before it landed one of our officers was approached by someone who was apparently a reporter who knew that the gyrocopter was going to be landing and asked the officer are you aware of anybody any airspace issues, anybody landing . Forgot the exact language. The officer didnt know anything about it. He asked another officer. They went over the air. They made some notifications. Essentially at that time they observed the gyrocopter over the grant statue and it landed on the west front. So that was about a 20, 25minute time lapse from the time we got these generic pieces of information. As you know, we get hundreds and hundreds of calls every day and emails about different permits, different activities. I understand. The last thing i will say, because i know that everybody else wants to ask a question. Its my understanding you did get that email about a half an hour before the gyrocopter landed, along with a website for a live stream, that this guy was Live Streaming his flight. So maybe somebody else wants to follow up on that, but it would seem as though somebody would tune in. Well, we attempted to tune in. We had no luck immediately. We ultimately did that investigation continued which allowed us id like to echo your praise of the officers actions on the scene immediately. I think the officers acted promptly, heroically, swiftly, efficiently. The continued investigation actually allowed us to determine what we were dealing with. Because as the canine officers swept the gyrocopter and then eod folks approached it to continue to clear it, we were pulling up information about the person, who he was, and what kind of potential threat he was or was not. So that investigative effort kind of aided our whole overall effort and fit in to our overall response. As you mentioned, it is not our role to patrol the airspace. Thats a dod norad responsibility. But we work very closely with them. We are working with the department of Homeland Security on an afteraction report from a larger sense. Were also doing an internal one as well. I actually during police week last week i had the opportunity to speak with secretary johnson about the matter actually twice, which i was pleased about being able to do that. Very good. Thank you, chief. The chair recognizes my Ranking Member. Thank you, madam chair. Chief, far be it from me to sit here and make you feel uncomfortable, or even to question you. But were friendlies here. Were not the enemy here. My dad was in the police force. Mr. Nugent has many, many years of experience in Law Enforcement. I talk with him every day. We are a community of oversight. This is the first time i met you. Chief morris was a friend. We were on oversight committee. He was friendly toward us. Walked by. Any time he walked by the office, pop in, how are you, how you doing. Thats good relationships. You know philadelphia is known for cheese steaks. We have one of the biggest cheese steak restaurants in philadelphia, most famous nationwide. They collect patches. And they wanted a patch from Capitol Police. I went to chief morris. I said, you know, id like to get a patch. He said, no, ill go down, bring it to them. I want to have that great relationship and good pr and he did that. You know . And, again, were not were not we dont want to be we dont want to be reactive. We want to act. If theres a problem, if theres an issue, your contract i deal with your officers, with your unions all the time. You meet with them a lot. Meet with us a lot. Walk by our office, say hello. I know youre busy, but were busy, too. Were not going to not say hello to you. Thats my issue. Thats my problem. I know you could be overwhelmed and i do appreciate that. But you know, if you you could get a little more closer to us. We want to be closer to you. Ive been involved in more contracts than anybody you know, including two of yours previously. You know . I do a lot of that in the city of philadelphia when theres always a problem, im the one they go to many, many times. Were ready to help you. Weve had discussions with me and the chairman all the time. You know . And little bit of wonder why havent we got like more involved. Were not here to criticize you. I cant do your job. You can probably do mine but i cant do yours. You can learn mine quickly enough, isnt Rocket Science to be a congressman. A little tough to be a Police Officer. We want to be helpful. But i really wish that you would take that in consideration. No request nothing just you know. If you have requested, were supposed to be here to help you. I wish you would take into consideration and get a little more friendly with all of us. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. I can guarantee we will do that and i appreciate your comments. Chair recognizes mr. Harper. Thank you madam chair. Chief dine, you said there were two notifications that went into the Capitol Police prior to the landing of the gyro copter. One went into the command center and the other went to the Public Information officer is that correct . Yes, sir. So the times of each of those, again, in advance of the landing . I believe it was one was 12 59, one was a minute later, where they made contact with us. I dont know that id classify it as notification. It was more of a question, were we aware of anything like this happening . But i think 12 59 and 1 00. Then the landing was at 1 23, as i understand . Yes, sir. So were you notified yourself personally before it landed as based upon either of those contacts . I was i dont believe i was notified before it landed. Okay. Were there any weapons in place on behalf of the Capitol Police to protect the capitol that could have shot down the gyro copter . Yes, sir. Weapons were in place. Without getting too deeply into it we have various weapons deployed around the capitol. So the short answer is yes. As with any use of force then you get into an issue of whether the officer is threatened or the lives of anyone else is potentially threatened. And that whole decisionmaking process that Police Officers engage in every day not only here the at the capitol but across the country. Yes, sir, we have officers with weapons. Chief my concern is that most criminals dont telegraph the date and time of a criminal activity that theyre going to engage in. This gentleman came as close to doing that as you can. I understand he was not charged with any criminal offense, is that correct . No, sir, he was charges with several criminal offenses. Was he . Yes, sir, yes, sir. And ive actually discussed with several members on both the house and senate side about looking at the sanctions of those offenses as well. As far as your and i understand you cant review every social media post or tweet or facebook account that might be out there. On a regular basis is that being done just to try to monitor that to see if anything shows up . Im sure thats part what was youre doing. Yes, sir, it is. Id be remiss if i didnt also fill in the rest of this picture. This particular gentleman actually had been under investigation several years before by the u. S. Secret service who shared information with us about potential potentially coming either to the white house and or the capitol. That was investigated by the secret service. It was investigated by our agency. We shared information. At that time he was deemed to not be a threat. But we do engage in the activity you mentioned. And then determinations have to be made. And i think it was alluded to earlier in the beginning of this hearing, we do receive thousands of pieces of information on various types of threats. What we have to do is determine the level of threat. And i understand multiple agencies are obviously involved in this process. Theyre sharing between those agencies many of these things you dont have any advance warning of potential. While were reviewing this looking at ways we can improve the reaction reaction time is our concern is what happens the next time . If theres a next time. We worry about someone else duplicating this, you know. A drone threat. Obviously weve had some concerns of that in the area. So how we address this is a great concern. We look forward to engaging more with you on what we can do, what youre doing how we can assist you, and we are first of all very appreciative of the job that the men and women do to protect the capitol complex and we thank you. Thank you very much. And as it relates to drones if i might add, weve been working to take a leadership position in that in the National Capital region. Several months ago we held a meeting with about 20 other Law Enforcement agencies and the u. S. Attorney and the attorney general for the District Of Columbia to talk about drones, the challenges that they create for state, federal and hol Police Agencies the ways to combat drones, the types of charges that may be placed. And it was a very far and wideranging discussion. Were part of a task force that meets twice a month multi agencies, to talk about uavs and how to address those issues. Were working with a number of agencies in that regard. And actually were one of the leading agencies. We just recently put out training for all of our officers that some other agencies are mirroring in terms of drone education, frankly. Thank you. I yield back madam chair. Thank the gentleman. The chair recognizes miss lofgren. Well thank you madam chair and mr. Brady and chief. Ive been here, im working on my 21st year, and i think this is the first time weve ever had the police before us. And i think its long overdue. I do thank you for your testimony and certainly the men and women of the department who work so hard to protect the capitol and the people who are here. Like some of the other members of the committee, i served for a long time in local government. And a lot of what i know about policing really comes from my experience in local government, overseeing Law Enforcement agencies. And it seems to me that a lot fof the trick of being successful is communication, clear lines of command, clear policies that officers not only understand the policies but the reasons for the policies. And so im interested in hearing some of that from you. I remember in terms of communication, i understand were not the Capitol Police are not in charge of the air space. But thats a communication issue. I remember after 9 11 obviously the capitol was a target. There was disarray. Many weeks later, we had an all hands briefing in the capitol with bipartisan meeting. I can say this now because its all been changed. But one member asked the sergeant at arms, when did the secret service call the Capitol Police . When did that call come in . The answer was, were still waiting for that call. I mean, so i think the communication between other agencies needs there needs to be a protocol for that so that Everybody Knows what theyre supposed to do. So im interested. Some of that may be something you want to do in a private setting, i dont know. But i would like to know what those protocols are, whether the other parties are aware of the protocols, and whether theres any monitoring of those protocols. In terms of policies we had the naval yard a tragic situation. But one of the things that i thought was of concern was officers w