Yesterday’s events at the Capitol building should be understood as a colossal law enforcement failure.
The Capitol Police are coming under well-deserved scrutiny after they failed to prevent rioters from storming the Capitol building yesterday, then killed an unarmed woman who joined the break-in. “I think it’s pretty clear that there’s going to be a number of people who are going to be without employment very, very soon,” said Rep. Tim Ryan (D–Ohio), the lead House appropriator for Capitol Police, on a conference call with reporters yesterday. “This is the U.S. Capitol building with the House and the Senate in session. We knew. Donald Trump signaled this. There was enough time to prepare.” The House’s sergeant-at-arms has already resigned. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) is demanding the resignation of Capitol Hill Police Chief Steve Sund. Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.), soon to be the Senate majority leader, says he’ll fire the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms when his party takes over that chamber. BREAKING: @SpeakerPelosi says House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving has submitted his resignation and she is calling for US Capitol Police chief Steven Sund to resign immediately Erik Wasson (@elwasson) January 7, 2021 The Wall Street Journal reports that federal authorities made a deliberate decision to maintain a light police presence on the ground yesterday in an effort not to escalate tensions and to avoid the unsavory optics of riot police on the Capitol steps.
