The NYPD is dispatching 200 of its own to members to Washington, DC on Jan. 20 to help police the area during President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, sources said.
The district is seeking the assistance of 3,000 officers from departments across the country for the swearing-in ceremony, law enforcement sources said.
The inaugural festivities will be much smaller than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden urged his supporters not to travel to DC and the traditional parade on Pennsylvania Avenue was scrapped in favor of a “virtual” parade.
But after last week’s deadly Capitol Hill mayhem at the hands of a pro-Trump mob, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has asked federal officials to execute several safety measures ahead of this year’s inauguration.
Bowser, in a Saturday letter to the Department of Homeland Security, asked officials to cancel permit gatherings from Jan. 11 to Jan. 24.
The mayor is also seeking an extension of “national security event period,” allowing for more inaugural preparation time “given the new threats from insurgent acts of domestic terrorists.”