GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, of Nebraska, is being slammed for making false emergency calls to Capitol Police to test their response time.
According to Huffington Post, congressman Fortenberry did not call 911, he called police by using the duress button installed in his office that that links to Capitol Police twice last week just to see how quickly they’d come. Now, Capitol Police are “furious,” with one calling it “reprehensible.”.
“According to the officers, it turns out the Republican lawmaker wasn’t testing the device itself; he was testing how quickly police would come to his office. When they didn’t come, he pushed the button a second time. Officers were almost to his office when they got word it was a test, so they turned back. This apparently upset Fortenberry, who concluded the officers were slow to respond,” HuffPost reports.
One officer says the Capitol Police Department “is already overworked and hypervigilant for actual threats. Morale cannot get any worse.”
“This sort of behavior from a member or their staff is reprehensible,” they added.
“Apparently,” another said, “he doesn’t feel safe in a building with 800 officers in it.”
The news triggered a fierce backlash from Social media users who slammed the Nebraska Republican, including his own constituents.
The Capitol police had 720,000 overtime hours in 2020 with 233 job openings and this jerk is playing games with them ?
— mishanti2 (@mishanti2) April 20, 2021
As a constituent of his, I'm not sure if he could plot his way out of a wet paper bag.
— Dave Feit (@FeitCanWrite) April 20, 2021
Fortenberry is my Congresscritter… he's an absolute embarrassment to Nebraska. Refuses to meet with constituents or hold in person town hall meetings!https://t.co/8FWg5AxasS via @HuffPostPol
— Diane A Burton (@daurelia47) April 21, 2021
Fellow Nebraskans, we could have sent @katejbolz to Congress to represent us with fairness and dignity. Because @JeffFortenberry has an R behind his name is not enough anymore. As a state, we are bleeding young families who want better leaders. Prank calling police is not ok.
— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) April 20, 2021
*Any* (R) or (Q) will do in Nebraska, *any*! They vote for a letter, not decency.
— Justice (@Walkerpercyfan) April 20, 2021
something tells me that if you or I did that, there’d be charges
— erin (@heyerin123) April 20, 2021
That should be grounds for expulsion.
— Leo Horishny 👴🏻♌️🏜🛰🚲🚣🏼 (@LHorishny) April 20, 2021
Fortenberry is abusing police resources again. In 2018, Fortenberry used the LPD to go after people who had vandalized a yard sign.
— Dennis P. Crawford (@DennisPCrawford) April 20, 2021
He should be sent to the DC Jail to, you know, test the accommodations.
— John Miller (@jjmblog) April 20, 2021
@JeffFortenberry once again proves he is an arrogant, selfish, grandstanding & ineffective congressman. While he’s taking valuable time and resources from the CP what things are they not doing? Then there’s the fact there are at least 432 Reps of greater importance than him.
— Dennis Grady (@Franz_Kafka1) April 20, 2021
If I called the police for no reason just to see how long it would take them to arrive, I’d be arrested! He should have consequences!
— Pat Fuller MA BsEd. #EmbraceHope #WearAMask #BLM (@bannerite) April 20, 2021
I imagine that would be helpful intelligence in advance of another attack, too. I'd want to check into Fortenberry rather than just accept his excuse for abusing resources: he's one of the seditionists who shouldn't even be there. pic.twitter.com/ibq7BVWWbS
— SƙყɛɖῳɛƖƖɛʀ (@Pamacious) April 20, 2021
