Darn Right There Needs To Be An Investigation

In this morning's news,

Georgia GOP Representative Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said on Wednesday that his panel is launching an investigation into the January 6 Committee to find out if important information about the day’s events was hidden by the panel.

Let me put in a plug for one of my favorite TV shows of all time, On Patrol: Live on the REELZ channel, a clone-reboot of Live PD. which was paused but never revived by A&E in the wake of the BLM riots. If you want to check it out, it's on at 9PM Eastern tonight.

As a shameless OP: Live/Live PD junkie, given the photo above, which is just one vignette from the Tucker Carlson footage of QAnon Shaman's progress through the Capitol on January 6, I've become familiar enough with police procedure to have a whole bunch of questions about this scene. And we'll drop any issues of context, for instance, what hundreds of screaming rioters may have been doing outside the building -- let's just focus on the officers and Mr Chansley in the photo.

First, the guy is dressed in a bizarre outfit, he's behaving strangely, and he's carrying a flag on a four-foot spear, which many observers have characterized as a weapon. He's also weaing a horned headdress that could easily turn into a weapon as well. Normally, police officers would interview a subject like this to assess what's going on -- the guy could well pose a danger to himself or others. At the bare minimum, they would, as politely and courteously as they could, separate him from his potential weapons, for their safety as well as the subject's.

This is standard procedure that OP: Live viewers see maybe half a dozen times on a given episode. There are two officers with Mr Chansley. Separating him from potential weapons would be a first step for even Barney Fife of the Mayberry police, leaving aside Mr Chansley was headed for the Senate chamber. It didn't happen in this case. This nut job could presumably turn on either officer and attack him with that spear or the horned hat at any time, but apparently they trusted him not to do this.

In fact, under the circumstances we see in the vignette above and throughout the rest of the Carlson footage, leaving aside even the riot outside the building, a pair of officers investigating a bizarre dude carrying a spear wearing body paint and a horned headdress would place him in handcuffs -- as OP: Live viewers frequently see, the officers would be saying words to the effect, "You're not under arrest, you're just being detained, we're placing you in cuffs for our own safety while we investigate. These cuffs come off as quickly as they go on."

Didn't happen. At minimum, as far as I can see, Barney Fife would get a stern talking-to from his sergeant over neglecting the training he's been given for his own safety.

Next question: these officers had radios. Barney Fife would have called his dispatcher to report, "I'm at Route 15 and Main. Stopping a subject in body paint and a horned headdress carrying a spear. Can you send another unit?" In fact, there would probably have been an ongoing radio exchange between the patrol officers and their supervisors throughout the incident. For that matter, I would almost guess the officer on the left in the photo is holding a radio microphone in his right hand and communicating with someone as they walk along.

I would assume these radio exchanges are recorded. Rep Loudermilk, I hope, is already on this. And this goes to the question of why, in another vignette, Mr Chansley walks past seven other Capitol Police officers, escorted by two of their brother officers, under riot conditions (why would seven officers be in a small group in the hallways otherwise?), in body paint, carrying a spear, wearing a horned headdress that looks kinda dangerous in itself, unrestrained.

Sounds to me as if there was radio traffic informing the force that this was nothing to get excited about. Otherwise, wouldn't one of the seven watching the little parade say something at minimum like, "Fred, what's up? You need any help with this guy?" Not a peep, at least in the footage we see.

Politifact claims to have debunked the Carlson footage:

Carlson claimed Capitol Police officers "helped" Chansley and "acted as his tour guides."

Available evidence rebuts this claim. Chansley was among the first rioters to force their way into the building through a door other rioters had broken. Officers repeatedly asked Chansley to leave the building. This is corroborated by the plea agreement Chansley signed and an officer’s account of the events.

The Capitol Police chief called Carlson’s claim "outrageous and false," and said officers used de-escalation tactics to try to talk rioters into getting each other to leave the Capitol.

While there's no sound with the Carlson footage, the scenes we've seen don't appear to show any verbal exchange between the officers and Mr Chansley. As an OP: Live viewer, I see de-escalation tactics all the time -- that's pretty much what patrol officers have to do their whole shift with domestic disputes, raving homeless people, or violent offenders resisting arrest. De-escalation involves a lot of talking. It involves the cop putting his body between the subject and what the subject wants to attack. It involves disarming the subject, first and foremost for officer safety.

On the face of it, Mr Chansley was carrying a dangerous sword-like item, and he was wearing a horned headdress that could quickly have become a weapon. De-escalation would have involved the two officers who were with him throughout the Carlson footage at minimum disarming him and, given the circumstances, restraining him, especially since for much of the time, they were alone with him, and such a scene wouldn't have provoked the crowd.

There are lots of questions that still need answers.