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Capitol
Police
leadership
held
back
some
equipment
during
riot
By
Richard
Cowan
reuters.com
WASHINGTON
DC -
Police
officers
defending
the U.S.
Capitol
against
an
attack
by
Donald
Trump's
supporters
might
have
quelled
the
violence
sooner
had
their
leadership
not
blocked
them
from
using
weapons
like
sting-ball
grenades,
a
watchdog
testified
on
Thursday.
Michael
Bolton,
the U.S.
Capitol
Police
inspector
general,
told the
House of
Representatives
Administration
Committee
that
such
equipment,
which
release
dozens
of
small,
stinging
balls,
"would
have
provided
a better
posture
to repel
the
attacks."
But
he
testified
that a
Capitol
Police
assistant
deputy
chief
decided
that
such
non-lethal
grenades
and
launchers,
could
have
been
deployed
in an
unsafe
manner,
causing
serious
injuries.
Protesters
during
last
summer's
anti-racism
demonstrations
were
injured
by such
weapons.
Bolton
said
better
training
would
have
been the
remedy
to that
concern.
Committee
Chairwoman
Zoe
Lofgren
said
investigators
found
that
riot
shields
were
locked
in a bus
too far
away
from
police
officers
to
quickly
gain
access
to them
during
the Jan.
6
attack,
forcing
officers
to face
a
violent,
unruly
mob with
inadequate
protective
equipment.
Former
President
Donald
Trump
and some
of his
fellow
Republicans
have
tried to
downplay
the
attack,
when
hundreds
of his
supporters
stormed
the
Capitol
in an
attempt
to
disrupt
Congress'
certification
of Joe
Biden's
presidential
election
victory.
Five
people,
including
Capitol
Police
officer
Brian
Sicknick,
died in
the
violence,
and many
more
officers
suffered
injuries.
Lawmakers
were
forced
to
huddle
in
secure
rooms
while
law
enforcement
battled
the
rioters.
Bolton
also
testified
that
police
standard
operating
procedures
were not
followed
and that
officer
training
deficiencies
contributed
to
rioters
being
able to
breach
security
and
storm
their
way
through
the
iconic
Capitol.
Republican
Representative
Bryan
Steil
asked
Bolton
whether
past
years'
inspector
general
recommendations
for
improvements
in
intelligence
operations
and
other
areas
were
implemented.
Bolton
replied
that in
some
cases
they
were,
but
subsequently
they
sometimes
"slid
off."
He
added
that a
recommendation
that
USCP
officers
receive
security
clearances
so that
they
could
receive
detailed
intelligence
information
--
allowing
them to
react to
threats
in a
more
nimble
way --
were not
implemented.
Bolton's
reports
to
Congress
found
the
Capitol
Police
Civil
Disturbance
Unit was
operating
on Jan.
6 "at a
decreased
level of
readiness"
and that
the
department
needed
to
improve
its
management
of
weapons,
ammunition
and riot
shields.
read
more
Internal
investigations
led to
detailed
recommendations
that the
Capitol
Police
immediately
improve
its
intelligence
operations
and beef
up the
readiness
of the
civil
disturbances
unit.
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