Whether we like it or not, what happened this summer is different, if only because it put these situations in the national spotlight. I can guarantee new methods, new trainings and new plans of action were created for handling these situations in different ways. I know this because I happen to have a friend who works for the FBI that went through these trainings leading up to the election. Now obviously the way the FBI trains their staff is certainly different than all forms of law enforcement, but my assumption is these trainings are being gone through other LEA.
This situation is different purely because it happened after and people are being trained to act differently. I hope this doesn’t devolve into violence like many of those did.
This situation is different because this is an act of insurrection. This is not a protest. This is people storming the US Capitol to disrupt a lawful election. Whether or not they have the mental capacity to fully realize the severity of their actions is another debate but letting people enter the Capitol is beyond me given that on any normal day I cannot get within 50 yards of the Rotunda’s door.
The complete inadequacy of the security force stationed during a rally where multiple participants had made open and blatant calls to violence on social media is either sheer stupidity or willful complicity.