Rep. Moore Thanks UHP, Governor For Sending Troopers To Home During Capitol Riot
Jan 8, 2021, 12:36 AM | Updated: 12:42 am
Rep. Blake Moore is sworn into office on Jan. 4, 2021. (Rep. Moore's Office)
(Rep. Moore's Office)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – As the chaos unfolded at the U.S. Capitol, law enforcement officers were stationed at the Utah State Capitol and homes of Utah’s federal delegation.
Newly elected Rep. Blake Moore was just three days into his first term when rioters broke into the building, forcing him and others to find cover.
Today, with my wife & eldest son by my side, I was sworn in as a Member of the 117th Congress to represent the 1st…
Posted by Elect Blake Moore on Sunday, January 3, 2021
“The Capitol’s breached. They’re obviously targeting congressmen and you get back to the office and your chief tells you, ‘Hey there’s protests happening at the Utah State Capitol,’” Rep. Moore said.
And Moore’s thoughts turned back home to his wife Jane and their three boys, and past protests that have happened outside of the homes of elected officials in Utah.
“All those things go through your head in that moment,” he said. “My wife was obviously really nervous. We got young kids.”
“I think everyone identified really quickly that was probably a concern for our federal delegation,” said Col. Michael Rapich with the Utah Highway Patrol.
As UHP troopers worked to secure the state capitol amid a protest that ended peacefully, Rapich said the governor’s office communicated with the commissioner of public safety and they decided early on to also send troopers to the homes of Moore and the rest of Utah’s federal delegates.
“The climate and the atmosphere for these kinds of events and this kind of activity obviously have ramped up way more than we’ve ever seen before,” Rapich said. “Yesterday’s events were obviously something nothing we have never seen before.”
“We’re just so appreciative of the responsiveness of our local police and highway patrol,” Moore said. “I was so grateful for Gov. Spencer Cox and Derek Brown, the GOP chairman. They were so proactive in getting local law enforcement involved. Completely out of an abundance of caution.”
The riot at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday will always be part of Moore’s first week on the job, but he is “excited that we’re in a spot to move forward.”
“We don’t need to be the focus anymore, right? This is supposed to be a boring job,” he said. “There’s real work to do.”
