The new videos put the Capitol Police in a new light. I believe many of them are heroes

[StarfishSaver]

I see many clips of officers standing their ground in the face of terrible onslaughts and probably saving many lives.

Check out the new video showing the moments before Ashli Babbit was shot. The first angle I saw made me wonder why the police were just standing there while the mob was attacking the door and then why in the HELL did they just move out of the way.

But this new video tells a different story. We see they are the only things between the door and the Members of Congress on the other side of it and they stood there and held that door against this mob of maskless terrorists screaming "F*CK the BLUE!!!" in their faces. And then we can see the tactical forces arriving on the other side of the door and positioning, one of them with a gun trained on the rioters. At that point, the officers move out of the way, obviously to make sure the tactical forces on the other side have a clear shot of any rioter who tries to breach the door.

The mob saw the gun and yelled that there was a weapon. And yet they continued to bang on the door and Ashli Babbit climbed through the broken window and was shot.

While the first video made me think those officers on the door were weak and incompetent, it is now clear that they are heroes. They protected that door until reinforcements could arrive and they did so with no equipment and without using any lethal force.

I've also seen other videos of officers being attacked, bleeding and doing the best they could.

I still believe that the Capitol Hill supervisors and management were unprepared and maybe worse, and have a lot of explaining to do. But these rank-and-file officers deserve the benefit of the doubt and maybe a few commendations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/01/08/ashli-babbitt-shooting-video-capitol/

[Turin_C3PO]

1. I agree that

the large majority of them did what they could. But I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them were complicit.

[utopian]

3. Exactly

[StarfishSaver]

11. Definitely

There were surely some on the inside who were complicit - either openly collaborating or just shrugging and thinking it was no big deal.

[hlthe2b]

2. I also think they KNOW WHO within their ranks may have aided the insurgency. Given they lost

one of their own with many more injured, I doubt they will remain quiet about this.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. They were under-staffed and under-armed to deal with this mob.

On purpose. That is where the true treasonous acts took place. Those that had the authority to protect the US Congress....and did not.

[C_U_L8R]

5. Trump planned it so they'd be overrun.

And denied them when they called for help.

[LizBeth]

6. I have been paying attention too and thanks for this, looking like I believe the east wing

were letting them in while th3e west wing were overwhelmed and fighting to not let them in. I think there are a whole lot of capitol police that need to say, wtf... to not only leaders but their fellows. But yes, I am seeing a lot of bravery too.

[msongs]

7. the guy being grabbed by the gas mask had legitimate stand your ground reasons nt

[MaryMagdaline]

8. I agree. They were outmanned snd outgunned

Did the best they could

[Hekate]

9. Just breathtaking. Thanks, Star

[EarlG]

10. There's clearly a divide in the entire organization

Some cops were acting extremely bravely -- one was even killed in the line of duty.

Meanwhile others were waving rioters into the building, then helping them down the steps on their way out afterwards.

Major investigations are required and a lot of people need to be fired -- this was a terrible security failure.

[usajumpedtheshark]

12. My opinion has changed as well. The video from the network I was watching

that day didn't even do a good job of showing the chaos and damage going on. It was mostly outside footage of one side of the Capitol and some footage of the terrorists walking around inside.

I know I made hasty judgements based only on what I saw. As we gain a more complete understanding of all the events that occurred, I will be ready to change those opinions.

[StarfishSaver]

15. I feel the same

In some ways, I'm a little relieved. I've worked with Capitol Police and always had a lot of respect and appreciation for them and the job they do, often risking their lives to protect the Capitol complex and everyone in it. I was certain that there was no way they would let a bunch of Trumpers storm the Capitol. So I was horrified when I saw things play out the other day and just couldn't understand how they failed so miserably. Now I see that they didn't fail - at least not most of them. That's good to know.

[BlueIdaho]

13. Their own leadership failed them.

A Trump appointed lap dog who put their officers in a life or death situation.

[eppur_se_muova]

24. Absolutely. Corruption from the top down is the way 45 works. nt

[Renew Deal]

14. The tall cop in the middle was one of the ones overrun outside the building.

He's in two of the most vital points in this attack. Why they stepped away before the tactical guys stepped in makes no sense. It was only a minute, but it resulted in her death.

[StarfishSaver]

17. What?

They didn't step away before the tactical guys stepped in. They moved when they got there. And they shot the woman when she came through the window, which was her own fault.

[Renew Deal]

18. They left the door ungauarded for 34 seconds.

In that time, the glass was broken and she tried to climb in. They abandoned their post.

[StarfishSaver]

20. That's not what happened

They were told to move from the door. They were in front of the door to guard it until the tactical forces arrived. When they arrived, they moved out of the way because they no longer needed to use their bodies to guard the door - the men on the other side of the door with the automatic weapons were now covering that door. Not only was there no need for them to continue standing there, they needed to move so that the tactical teams could have a clear view of the rioters and not run the risk of friendly fire.

They did NOT abandon their post.

I suggest you run your perspective and my perspective by any law enforcement expert who knows anything about this kind of operation - I guarantee you they will tell you that I'm right.

[Renew Deal]

22. There was clearly a need for them to stand there.

Leaving emboldened the attackers, led to a breach, and resulted in a shooting. It's tough to second guess in such a heated situation, but the handoff between groups was not clean enough.

[dware]

16. Thank you StarfishSaver!!!

Those videos were very graphic, telling and horrifying and do tell a very chilling story.

The video of the shooting is very disturbing, Ashli was halfway through that broken window when she was shot, she was told numerous times to get back, as confirmed by a witness standing next to her, she had a back pack on that could have contained a bomb.
I don't need to see anymore to know that those officer's are heroes and saved many, many lives that day.

You are right, upper and midlevel management need to be investigated for collusion in this terrible attempted coup.

Each and every one of those officer's should get the Medal of Freedom as soon as Joe Biden is sworn in.

[ret5hd]

19. I agree.

[c-rational]

21. I saw that video tonight also, chilling. I also thought I heard the mob yelling at the officers

others in blue were hurt out there or something to that effect. I also saw the backup with guns drawn take up position just inside the door before the three officers walked. Very tough position to be in. It is the higher ups that have to account. This whole notion of not knowing this would happen is preposterous.

[StarfishSaver]

23. Much of this looked like a mess, but this particular operation looked like it was executed perfectly