“Some defendants have stated they assisted my personnel on January 6. This is the same tactic used as domestic violence perpetrators – beat the victim unconscious and then attempt to render aid…”
Full story: US Capitol Police officers continue to relive January 6 trauma in court | CNN Politics
Police officers encounter many traumatic events on a day to day basis. Many riots that take place over very political or more real time events end in violence that wasn’t able to be controlled. Officers are having to take control and they are offend injured in the process. My question is that is there a better way that riots can be controlled so that officers aren’t having to put their lives on the line, or is there some other bigger source like the military that can come and put the violence to an end. It is traumatizing to officers and because of court they are having to re-live these events.
Riot control is a very conflicting area, at least for me. While I could suggest using the national guard over law enforcement to handle riots, this plays into a militarized state and could further agitate rioters. Personally I don’t think there is a way for riots to be handled without having lasting effects on those who handle them. But in regards to January 6th I think it would be close to impossible to not be traumatized by such a massive riot. Returning to the national guard the same consequences may happen with them when handling riots. Another possibility would be to exempt those handling riots from having to appear in court but that could lead to problems with court procedures. Overall it is a difficult situation to handle for anyone including law enforcement.
While I do agree that officers are always putting their lives on the line when it comes to handling riots and political protests, I don’t know if having the military show up to political protests would be the next best step. There’s already an assumption of danger or pushback when protestors see police; but to see people in military uniforms undoubtedly carrying weapons or other gear that looks similar to or more than what riot police usually use would cause more hesitation, suspicion, and could cause even more tension. Elevated tension could most definitely result in riots breaking out, putting the protestors in even more danger- especially in the case of the military being tasked with controlling the area.
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