Report Finds Police Emergency System Mishandled at Capitol Riot

A recent report from the inspector general has found that U.S. Capitol Police didn’t adequately respond to  calls for help from officers when they pressed panic buttons on their radios seeking immediate backup during the January 6 riot, reports the Associated Press. The report found that most of the emergency activations from individual officers’ radios were never simulcast on police radio, a standard protocol designed to spread the word to other officers about emergencies and crises. The on-duty watch commander appears not to have been made aware of at least some of the system activations. Of the 36 emergency system activations that day, the inspector general located only 13 in the transcripts of radio traffic. In addition, Command Center officials did not always ensure that the on-duty watch commander was even aware of the system activations.

Meanwhile, the Courthouse News Service reports that Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui recently ordered a response from the Justice Department on whether they considered Infowars host Owen Shroyer a member of the news media when prosecuting him for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Faruqui said that when questioned by the court, prosecutors stated that they followed their own guidelines, which require approval from the attorney general if charging a member of the news media with a crime. The department would neither disclose if they designated Shroyer as a member of the media nor state the reasons underlying their determination. Faruqui said that even if Shroyer were a member of the news media, there would be probable cause to believe he committed a crime. But he wanted to make sure that the Justice Department followed protocol.