I used to think the same thing. How did only one person get shot? Why didn’t they shoot a few people outside of the Capitol and end the whole thing? As soon as a few people would have been shot, the vast majority of those insurrectionists would have ran, right? It’s basically what happened with Babbitt.
After watching a few documentaries, I think there were two reasons. One, the whole thing wasn’t a fluke. It didn’t happen by accident. People didn’t just get riled up. That whole thing was a legit planned and executed attempt by POTUS et al. to conduct a true insurrection while making it seem grassroots. The whole point was to let the crowd get as far as possible to intimidate the certification into caving to Trump. Because of this, they were ordered to not engage with lethal means. Two, they didn’t have the manpower because they were purposely handicapped. Had they opened fire, the wackos with legit firepower in the crowd would have fired back. This thing was a lot more violent than the news reported. There were situations in which officers went in knowing they might die. And in the moment, you don’t have the benefit of hindsight. This could have been a lot worse. The restraint they used was impressive. Now, I’m impressed with how well the Capitol Police handled that insurrection. I think there were officers there that day that history will hold as heroes.
Anyway, yeah, part of why it was so “compassionate” from the police was that the insurrectionists were White. But, they were ordered not to open fire by the same people that would benefit from the insurrection. And, they were handicapped and could have been overran had they opened fire. The fact that the police still prevented the insurrection is a testament to their professionalism and patriotism.
Neon@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Or you know
Could it be that the most prestigious police job, where only the best of the best are taken, protecting the most important people in the country, working for the government who has enough money to spend on their training, actually has well-trained and well-controlled policemen?
Could it be that an institution that is notorious for how incredibly federalized (federalized = decentralized != with the federal government) it is doesn’t have the same quality everywhere?
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 3 months ago
they literally barricaded and fell back as far as they could.
watch the footage, so many times, cops put their hands on their sidearms, then fall back.
compare that to footage of occupy, of the atlanta cop city protests, any violent reactions on campuses etc., - is there a qualitative difference in them? maybe? but not enough to explain the disparity in violent, over-reaction.