Police organisation
United States Capitol Police
The police force for the United States Capitol and its grounds, answerable to the presiding officers of the House and Senate rather than to the executive branch.
At a glance
- Official name
- United States Capitol Police (USCP)
- System
- United States
- Level of government
- Special jurisdiction
- Kind of body
- Specialist national service
- Status
- Currently operating
- Official website
- https://www.uscp.gov/ — confirmed against the organisation’s own pages on 17 September 2026.
- Facts last checked against sources
- 17 September 2026
What it is
The USCP is a legislative-branch police force, which is what distinguishes it from every other federal agency in this corpus. It dates its founding to an Act of 2 May 1828, and states that with that Act Congress brought the policing of the Capitol under the direction of the presiding officers of the House and Senate. A police force whose chain of accountability runs to a legislature rather than to a ministry is a genuinely different constitutional arrangement, and it is the reason this force is listed separately rather than folded into federal law enforcement.
What it covers
The United States Capitol, Capitol Square and the Capitol complex, as extended by the police regulations the 1828 Act applied to them.
Broad responsibilities
- Policing of the Capitol complex
- Protection of Members of Congress and the legislative process
- Security screening and event policing on Capitol Hill
Who it answers to
The department states that Congress placed its direction with the presiding officers of the House and Senate. It names an Office of the Inspector General.
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how United States is structured, against other systems
Sources
Our Mission — United States Capitol Police
United States Capitol Police · Institutional (self-description) · link verified 2026-09-17
SCOPE: the United States Capitol Police only. The department's own mission and history page, read directly. Supports the official name, the abbreviation USCP as the department's own, and the Act of 2 May 1828 that the department names as its founding, together with its statement that Congress placed the policing of the Capitol under the direction of the presiding officers of the House and Senate. The 1828 Act text itself was not fetched.