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The problem is that law enforcement is incompetent. They are provocative against the peaceful and ineffective against the violent. Pretty much the worst of both
by solveit 6y ago
The problem is that law enforcement is incompetent. They are provocative against the peaceful and ineffective against the violent. Pretty much the worst of both worlds.
- InitialLastName 6y agoI think there's an argument to be made that the response at the Capitol was what you want from a police force. The Capitol Police have a dual role as bodyguards (for legislators, their staff, other employees of the legislative branch, and the journalists and media covering them) and as security guards (for the buildings of the Capitol complex). Given that as far as I can tell none of the people who were there to do the business of operating the US government were injured, and that almost all were successfully evacuated, it seems they did that first (and more important) job excessively well. The second job is more difficult to do effectively (with the potential that some of the protesters were armed, any armed response could have escalated into an actual battle), and was almost certainly compromised by the absence of the personnel needed to evacuate and secure the legitimate occupants of the complex (I don't see any numbers at a quick glance, but almost certainly thousands of people on what was a normal workday until 2:30PM). Not to mention the inexplicable absence of last summer's no-badge secret police in guarding this protest, and an unwillingness of the executive branch to provide requested national guard allocations to support the Capitol Police.