How many Metropolitan Police Department officers were injured during January 6 2021?

1. The early DHS snapshot: 14 Metropolitan Police injured that day

A Department of Homeland Security operations report archived by DHS states that the D.C. Police Department announced 14 Metro Police officers were injured on January 6, 2021, with one sustained serious injury; that figure appears in immediate post-event situational reporting and likely reflects an initial accounting released during or shortly after the attack ^[1].

2. The later, aggregated tallies: 65 MPD officers within a 138–140 total

Subsequent summaries used in reporting and reference works consolidate injuries across agencies and over time; a frequently cited compilation lists 138 officers injured in total — broken down as 73 U.S. Capitol Police and 65 Metropolitan Police — while other reputable outlets report “more than 140” law enforcement officers suffered injuries that day ^{[2] [4] [3]}. Those higher totals are commonly invoked in media retrospectives and congressional findings to convey the scale of injuries across multiple forces ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Why numbers don’t match: timing, agency definitions and hospitalization versus any injury

The inconsistent counts reflect three distinct issues in the sources: first, early operational reports like the DHS snapshot captured immediate, partial tallies that agencies announced during the crisis, which can be revised later ^[1]. Second, some sources count only D.C. MPD personnel while others lump together MPD, U.S. Capitol Police, National Park Service, and mutual‑aid officers into a single law‑enforcement injured total ^{[2] [4]}. Third, some statements emphasize hospitalizations or “serious” injuries (e.g., 15 officers hospitalized in congressional language) while other figures count any documented injury, minor or major ^[4].

4. How major outlets and lawmakers frame the figure — the political and narrative stakes

Congressional language and many news outlets frame the event in terms of “more than 140” officers injured to capture the collective toll across agencies, and that framing appears in the public record used to justify medals and federal attention ^[4]. Conversely, operational documents and immediate departmental announcements sometimes gave lower MPD‑specific counts, a difference that has been seized in political debate over how the event is remembered and honored; those editorial choices and timing can reflect institutional priorities about emphasizing scale versus specific departmental impacts ^{[1] [4]}.

5. What the reporting supports as the best answer and what remains unresolved

Based on the available reporting, the defensible direct answer is that initial DHS/operational reporting recorded 14 Metropolitan Police Department officers injured on Jan. 6 (one seriously), while later, consolidated tallies used in congressional and media accounts attribute roughly 65 MPD injuries as part of an overall 138–140 law‑enforcement injuries that day ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. The sources do not publish a single reconciled, MPD‑only roster with dates of injury and severity, so absolute precision on the final MPD‑specific count cannot be confirmed from the provided documents alone ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

6. Bottom line and reporting caveat

The bottom line: if quoting an immediate departmental/operational announcement, use 14 MPD officers injured (one seriously); if citing later, aggregated post‑event tallies that distinguish by agency, use ~65 Metropolitan Police officers injured within an across‑the‑board 138–140 injured officers figure — and make clear which measure is being cited because the sources differ in scope and timing ^{[1] [2] [4]}. The available reporting does not include a single definitive MPD‑only final ledger to resolve the discrepancy beyond these documented counts ^{[1] [2] [4]}.