Source: Politics<\/p>\n
After two surgeries, he remains in physical therapy from it. The sound of Capitol workers banging on metal reminds him of it. A year later, Officer Aquilino Gonell is still living through Jan. 6.<\/p>\n
As much as the 16-year veteran of the Capitol Police wants to move on, circumstances haven\u2019t let him. He\u2019s one of a handful of officers who\u2019ve stepped into the public eye after the Capitol attack, serving as a witness for the select panel investigating the insurrection and speaking about his experience battling violent rioters outside his workplace.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s done that in part out of concern that those responsible for the attack by former President Donald Trump’s supporters haven\u2019t been held accountable. Until that happens, Gonell and many of his colleagues who defended the Hill worry about a future attack on Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing changed\u201d since the riot, he said in an interview, \u201cwas that they changed the glass that was broken that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The year wasn’t entirely dark: Gonell\u2019s bonded with fellow responders who testified and continue to risk political blowback for speaking out about the horrors they faced. He and Capitol Police colleague Harry Dunn, as well as D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former officer Mike Fanone \u2014 the most well-known of the group \u2014 have been feted on TV and honored by lawmakers. They sometimes have dinner as a quartet, though their erratic hours make scheduling difficult.<\/p>\n
But those highlights don\u2019t make up for what’s broken. Gonell\u2019s injuries still affect basic tasks like walking, playing with his son or putting on clothes. He couldn\u2019t get through a recent lunch thanking officers for their service on Jan. 6 without the FBI calling him. Ten minutes after that, his phone rang again; it was a prosecutor calling to update him on a rioter\u2019s sentencing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are things that are still triggering. There are things that even now affect me. It\u2019s been a hell of a year,\u201d Gonell said in an interview.<\/p>\n
No two responders are exactly alike in their reactions to the attack. Hodges, crushed by rioters in the West Terrace doors of the Capitol in footage seen around the world<\/a>, recalled returning to full duty within a month.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been very fortunate, both physically and mentally,\u201d Hodges said in an interview.<\/p>\n At the Capitol Police, about 135 officers have retired since Jan. 6 \u2014 compared with about 80 who retired in the same timeframe last year. The department has set aside funding to retain officers and says it wants to bring on 280 more officers in 2022, noting that not all retirements were riot-related.<\/p>\n Officials also say the force is stronger than before Jan. 6, citing work on improvements from equipment to intelligence and beefed-up training for officers. <\/p>\n The Metropolitan Police Department highlighted its efforts to improve mental health services for officers including their free and confidential counseling program, the creation of a full-time position tasked with employee mental and physical well-being and efforts to create a peer support team for officers. <\/p>\n But recruitment won’t necessarily be easy: While law enforcement nationwide has struggled with retention amid the pandemic and following nationwide racial justice protests, the specific scars of Jan. 6 run deep in D.C.<\/p>\n One officer died of multiple strokes the day after he defended the Capitol; several others, including D.C. police officers, died by suicide in the aftermath. Scores more were injured that day.<\/p>\n Dunn, who testified about enduring a \u201ctorrent\u201d of racial abuse during the attack<\/a>, came back to work on Jan. 7. Therapy has helped, Dunn said, especially as he and his colleagues work every day at the scene of the crime. <\/p>\n \u201cI can’t avoid it. So you have to learn how to be able to handle all of that,\u201d said Dunn, who ran unsuccessfully to lead the Capitol Police union last year.<\/p>\n