Jan. 6 plaque honoring police officers is now displayed at the Capitol after a 3-year delay : NPR

A plaque honoring the police department on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Washington.

Allison Robbert/AP

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Allison Robbert/AP

WASHINGTON — Visitors to the U.S. Capitol will now have a visible marker of the Jan. 6, 2021, siege and a reminder of the officers who fought and were injured that day.

Just steps from the Capitol’s west front and where the worst fighting took place, workers quietly installed a plaque honoring the officers, three years after the law required it. The plaque was placed on the Senate side of the hallway because that chamber voted unanimously in January to install it after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., delayed its installation.

“On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary people who courageously protected and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021,” the plaque reads. “Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

The Washington Post was first to report the installation of the plaque, which a reporter witnessed around 4 a.m. ET on Saturday. It’s the first official marker of the violent day at the Capitol.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., led recent efforts to install it as he commemorated the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Senate in January and described his memories of hearing people breaking into the building. “We owe them eternal gratitude, and this nation is stronger because of them,” he said of the officers who were overwhelmed by thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters and ultimately pushed out of the building.

The mob of rioters who violently forced their way past police and broke in echoed Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen after the Republican lost to Democrat Joe Biden. The mob prevented Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory for several hours, sent lawmakers running and vandalized the building before police regained control. More than 140 officers from the U.S. Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police and other agencies were injured.

The fight to install the plaque came as Trump returned to power last year and the Republican Congress remained loyal to him. Trump, who called Jan. 6 the “day of love,” tried to shift blame to Democrats and police for inciting the attack, and many Republicans in Congress downplayed the violence.

3 years late

Congress passed a law in 2022 that sets instructions for the honorary plaque listing the names of officers “who responded to the violence that occurred.” The installation time was one year, but the plaque was never affixed.

Democrats upset about the plaque’s disappearance installed replicas of it outside their offices and called on Republican Party leaders to erect it or explain why it was missing.

After more than a year of silence — and a lawsuit filed by two officers who fought at the Capitol that day — Johnson’s office issued a statement on Jan. 5, the day before the fifth anniversary of the attack, saying the law authorizing the plaque was “not enforceable” and that the proposed alternatives “are also not consistent.”

Tillis went to the Senate floor later that week and passed a resolution, without any objection from other senators, to place the plaque on the Senate side.

Purpose of officers

One of the officers who filed the lawsuit, Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department, said Saturday that the lawsuit would continue.

Hodges, who was crushed and beaten by rioters while cornered in the Central West gates, just steps from where the plaque is now displayed, said the nighttime installation was a “good stopgap” but did not fully comply with the law.

The original statute stated that the plaque was to be placed “on” the west front of the Capitol – not near it – and that the officers’ names were to be inscribed on the plaque itself. The new facility features a nearby sign with a QR code that leads to a 45-page document listing the thousands of names of officers who responded to the Capitol that day.

“The weight of a judicial decision would help protect the memorial from future tampering,” Hodges said. “Our lawsuit persists.”

Hodges and a former U.S. Capitol Police officer, Harry Dunn, said in the lawsuit that Congress was encouraging a “rewriting of history” by failing to follow the law and install the plaque.

“This suggests that the officers do not deserve recognition, because Congress refuses to recognize them,” the lawsuit says.

The Justice Department has requested that the case be dismissed. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others argued that Congress “has already publicly recognized law enforcement service” by approving the plaque and that displaying it would not alleviate the problems they claim to face in the course of their work.

Memories of the day

More than 1,500 people have been charged after the attack, marking one of the largest federal prosecutions in the nation’s history. When Trump returned to power in January 2025, he pardoned them all within hours of taking office.

Hodges, Dunn and other officers who spoke out about their experiences that day have been repeatedly criticized and threatened by people loyal to Trump who say the officers are lying. Some officers say they are still having difficulty.

The lawsuit says “both men live with psychological wounds from that day, compounded by their government’s refusal to recognize their service.”

New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the top Democrat on the spending committee that oversees the legislative branch, said “our Capitol Police deserve more” and that he would continue to press Johnson on the issue.

“Make no mistake: they did this at 4 a.m. so no one would see, no ceremony, no real recognition,” Espaillat posted on X.

The top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, New York Rep. Joe Morelle, said he was glad the plaque was “finally at the Capitol.”

“Whether some people like it or not, the memory of that day is now part of this building,” Morelle said.

Associated Press contributor Allison Robbert contributed to this report.