New USCP Initiatives Aim to Add Agents & Investigators to Further Protect the U.S. Congress

The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is making improvements to the hiring process and launching a new recruiting campaign in order to hire more agents and investigators to protect Members of Congress. The changes come as the Department continues to expand its protective and investigative responsibilities.

Check out our new recruiting video HERE.

Previously the USCP’s Dignitary Protection Division (DPD) and the Investigations Division (ID) only hired internal candidates. The Department is now adding additional paths to become an agent or investigator with the United States Capitol Police.

The new positions can be found on the USCP Careers page HERE.

Lateral Hires: Agents or investigators who are currently working for other federal law enforcement agencies or the military. Lateral hires can earn between $81,000 and $132,000, depending on previous law enforcement experience.

Entry Level Hires: Anyone who is interested in an exciting career as a Special Agent or an Investigator with the USCP can now apply. Entry level agents and investigators can earn $81,311 during their first year and then $85,375 after they complete one year of required training.

Other benefits for agents and investigators include:

• No mobility agreement, which means agents will not get transferred to other states.
• The ability to investigate a wide range of cases across the country, including stalking, threats, financial crimes, and cybercrimes.
• The opportunity to apply for Task Force positions.

Reemployed Annuitants: The Department is also adding reemployed annuitant positions called Protective Officers. Law Enforcement Agents or Officers who retired from a federal law enforcement agency or the military can now directly apply to become a Protective Officer. These new Protective Officers will be responsible for supporting the USCP’s Protective Services Operations (PSO) as drivers for the Dignitary Protection Division, protecting the homes of Members of Congress, and working to receive threats that come into the Threats Duty Desk. The salary for reemployed annuitants is $132,391.

These are just some of the Department’s latest efforts to expand and improve its protective operations.

Current USCP officers will still be able to apply to become USCP agents and investigators. This new improvement will simply create a second pipeline of recruits, so the Department can continue to grow its Uniformed Operations, while simultaneously expanding its Protective Services Operations (PSO).

In January, the USCP released the number of cases its Threat Assessment Section (TAS) investigated in 2022 — a total of 7,501 cases. That number includes investigations into concerning statements and direct threats. Although the number of threat investigations decreased in 2022, the caseload remained historically high.

Here are the TAS case numbers in comparison for the previous five years:

• 7,501 in 2022
• 9,625 in 2021
• 8,613 in 2020
• 6,955 in 2019
• 5,206 in 2018
• 3,939 in 2017

While the Department continues to expand its protective and investigative responsibilities, the best way to keep everyone safe is to decrease violent political rhetoric across the country.