ST. LOUIS — The violence we saw in Washington D.C. this week has left many with one question:
Why did police look so overwhelmed and unprepared for the crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol?
Is the answer race-related?
Poor planning?
Or both?
One local law enforcement leader shared what he believes happened and how things could have gone so much better.
“If there is any blame in this situation, it has to do with the administration,” said Kevin Ahlbrand, who is the immediate past president of the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police and one of its current trustees.
He compared the situation to a Black Lives Matter protest that devolved into violence June 1, 2020 in St. Louis, when four police officers were shot and retired St. Louis Police Capt. David Dorn was murdered trying to defend a store from looters. When looking at how police responded to violence that night as well as how police responded the violence in the capitol, he said he doesn’t see a difference.
“Ever since Ferguson, they were saying the police were too militaristic, now when there’s a Trump rally they’re not militaristic enough?” Ahlbrand said. “It had to be a terrifying experience for them.
“It comes to a point where they use nonlethal weapons, they’re not working, they’re overwhelmed and there’s such a thing as tactically retreating and that’s what they had to do.”
Ahlbrand said it was “sickening” to learn more than 50 officers were injured during the attack, and one of them died. He also noted he didn’t know all of the facts surrounding what led an officer to fatally shoot a former Air Force veteran who was climbing through a window.
Ahlbrand, also a sergeant for the St. Louis Police Department, was tapped to serve as a voice of the police perspective on the Ferguson Commission.
“I’m sure you can interview some of the people at the Trump protest who will disagree with that and say they were treated heavy handedly,” he said.
But images of some officers posing for selfies with Trump supporters, and one taken by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Georgina Gustin have also angered many. Gustin was walking near the Capitol Wednesday when she saw a police officer with his arm around a Trump supporter about two hours after rioters began grappling with police on the Capitol steps.
“I’m not condoning that,” Ahlbrand said, adding that officer may not have known what was happening at the time.
Police response – and most importantly preparedness – depends on what officers know going into a situation, Ahlbrand said.
“The intelligence gathering process is vitally important in planning these things,” he said. “I hope there was no intelligence they had that there was going to be an assault on the capitol.
“Until we learn all the facts, it’s hard to say.”
The Washington Post began reporting some of the facts behind the Capitol police response. The newspaper reported: “The Pentagon placed tight limits on the D.C. National Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests this week, trying to ensure the use of military force remained constrained.”
And the city’s mayor asked the Guard to carry out a “narrow, unarmed mission” to help handle traffic ahead of planned protests.
“I was a little struck with the mayor’s comments on Wednesday when she said, ‘Yes,’ they were totally prepared,” Ahlbrand said. “It was my assumption there had been a lot of planning going on.”
Ahlbrand is also a frequent traveler to the nation’s capital, attending annual police memorial events and other Fraternal Order of Police conferences.
He said there are dozens of police agencies that work within Washington D.C., and, if the Capitol Police believe they will need help, they have to invite it.
The Washington Post reported Friday the Capitol Police, which reports to Congress and protects the House and Senate, did not request help from the Guard before Wednesday, but by the afternoon, its chief “made an urgent plea for backup from 200 troops during a call with top Pentagon and city officials,” according to the newspaper.
“I think there needs to be a full investigation into all of this,” Ahlbrand said. “You can’t just look at snippets of video and determine exactly what happened.
“People don’t believe it, but police officers, for the most part, do not see color. We see bad guys and good guys. And I think these officers reacted yesterday to some bad actors and I don’t think they treated them any different than bad actors during Black Lives Matter protests.”