Police have bolstered barricades and security at the Capitol in Hartford this week, after the FBI issued warnings about armed threats to state governments and federal buildings. Meanwhile, officials condemn violent threats against lawmakers on social media.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says he is limited in how much he can share about security preparations.
“Our state police, working with their national counterparts and working in a regional basis, are tracking the social media very, very carefully," Lamont said on Monday.
Top State Senators Martin Looney and Bob Duff condemned a violent threat made on Facebook against Senator Gary Winfield, who lead the state's progress on its police accountability bill. In a statement, the senators say a Facebook user commented on a post about Winfield by a Republican colleague, State Senator Rob Sampson. The commenter replied "Or we can take justice into our own hands. Hopefully the sanitation system can pick up the carcass."
"Senator Sampson said that the recently enacted police accountability bill and other criminal justice legislation 'undermined the rule of law' and led to a 'crime wave.' This is the kind of incendiary, alarmist, reckless fear mongering that leads to what we saw at the U.S. Capitol last week," Looney and Duff said.
Lamont’s Chief of Staff, Paul Mounds, said the governor is receiving daily security updates from the FBI and State Police now through President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.
“The state of Connecticut, from a security standpoint, will be ready and prepared based upon any particular escalation that we see of these various actions at state-related buildings or state-related facilities," Mounds said.
Lamont said Connecticut's National Guard is ready to deploy to Washington D.C. if called for assistance at the U.S. Capitol next week.
"We’ll be ready, but I have a high degree of confidence Connecticut is going to stay peaceful," Lamont said.