Manger came out of retirement last year to take over a department reeling from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
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In the first year on the job, he said, he’d focused on filling rank-and-file officer positions and had avoided promoting officers into more senior roles to prevent exacerbating vacancies lower in the ranks. This meant that more senior positions in the department remained in acting roles and meant “we’ve had a year of no promotions,” he said. Now, he wants to focus on organizational changes and promotions in the upper ranks of the department.

“With staffing increasing a little bit every month, we are going to start to be able to fill some of those upper level positions and some of the first-line supervisor positions. So I’m finally going to be able to start promoting sergeants and lieutenants and inspectors and captains,” he said.

Manger also discussed the department’s opening of its first two field offices meant to bolster efforts to address rising threats to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., in California and Florida. Many violent threats against members of Congress originate out of those two states, Manger said. The offices, staffed with at least two officers and an attorney, were meant to help investigate and prosecute people who made such threats — which are “far more” than the department dealt with four or five years ago, according to the chief.

Despite the challenges — old and new — the chief said he plans to stay as long as necessary to right the department’s course.

“Part of what I need to do is to make sure that we have a diverse group of leaders that are ready to take over once I decide to leave. And so, I want to make sure that I’ve got folks in leadership positions that are ready to be the next chief, I want to deal with the staffing issues and the organizational issues,” he said.

“These are things that are going to take a while. I do hope this is my last job,” he continued. “But I think that I could easily be here for a few more years.”