The storming of the Capitol "was a colossal failure" by local police and there should be a commission to investigate and prevent it in the future, according to former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.
"There was a colossal failure to collaborate and coordinate, and I cannot believe that it happened in Washington because they've done this for 50 years: They know how to deal with these demonstrations," Bratton told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. "They know how to collaborate on this.
"They decided to go low-key on this. And that's going to be part of the investigation. Why did they low-key it? Why were the officers not in riot gear? Why were there not more of them?
"None of us can understand how this was so poorly planned – the leadership that was involved in this."
Bratton added to host John Catsimatidis "the waters are still very muddy" on the events and failures, but an investigation needs to get to the bottom of the leadership failures.
"With the multiple investigations, I would advocate something along the lines of a 9/11 Commission," Bratton said. "Right now there are at least four different investigations that Congress has begun already.
"It is quite clear that the events of this week could have been foreseen, and that the Capitol Police and other agencies that gather intelligence did a very poor job of understanding what that intelligence should have made them aware of — that there was a potential for exactly what happened. Unbelievable as it seems, the unbelievable happened."
This could have been prevented with planning, Bratton added.
"Capitol Police clearly underestimated what the event was going to be, the nature of the crowd; and made no plans to collaborate, cooperate, seek additional assistance until after the crowd showed up on their front doorstep, and then it was too late," Bratton concluded.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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