“Can you move East to about Third Street at the crossover? And just—” It’s January 6, 12:50 p.m. In a little over an hour, Trump supporters will be roaming the halls of the U.S. Capitol. “Just be visible in that area, ready to respond.” What you’re hearing are recordings of internal police radio traffic obtained by The New York Times that give a rare window into the real-time tactics, decisions, and fears of front-line police officers thrust into a battle they weren’t expecting. “Having just a couple minor issues in that area with small crowds — or with the large crowd.” [Yelling] The crowd gathered outside the Capitol lawn gets more aggressive and pushes through barricades guarded by Capitol Police officers. [SHOUTING] “We’re not here for you. We’re here for America.” The Capitol Police force request backup. “Can you advise if anyone —” These internal radio communications from the reinforcements, officers from D.C.’s municipal police force, or M.P.D., who were called in to help the Capitol Police. “Cruiser 50, 64, 54, mount up.” Cruiser 50 is the call sign for the leader of the M.P.D. response, Inspector Robert Glover, a high-ranking M.P.D. veteran who specializes in crowd control and high-stakes confrontations. “The Mall has cleared up, sir?” “Thank you. The crowd is shifting over to the Capitol. We’re supporting Capitol on the west front.” As President Trump is speaking at the other end of the Mall, Glover is leading an M.P.D. team to reinforce the west front of the Capitol. The main stairways are currently covered with scaffolding and bleachers. If the crowd pushes past police anywhere along here, they’ll have easier access to the building. When Glover’s M.P.D. team arrives, most dressed in bright yellow, this is the brawl they’re walking into. [Shouting] “Cruiser 50, authorizing hard gear. Hard gear at Capitol.” Glover, seen here, immediately sees that a crowd this big, this hostile, is going to require more manpower. “Cruiser 50, give me a D.S.O. team. D.S.O. team to respond to the west front of Capitol.” D.S.O. are munition specialists. “Cruiser 50, Get C.D.U. 12 up. C.D.U. 12 up to help maintain the lines. They’re throwing bike racks. They’re throwing bike racks.” C.D.U. units are trained to subdue unruly crowds — “Hold back.” — but the police will quickly learn this is not a typical unruly crowd. “The Patriots are the only ones who give a [BLEEP] about you.” Over the next 76 minutes, the M.P.D. radio communications, synchronized with footage from the scene, analyzed by The New York Times, reveal the gauntlet Glover and his team face trying to hold the line at the Capitol. “Multiple Capitol injuries. Multiple Capitol injuries.” It’s been five minutes since Glover’s team arrived, and already he’s calling in officer injuries. He hears from other police on the radio, who warn that the situation is about to get even worse. “Be advised, the speech ended.” Now that President Trump has left the state at the other end of the National Mall, crowds of people are streaming toward the Capitol. “Intel 1, be advised you’ve got a group of about 50 charging up the hill on the west front.” Glover is still asking for the munitions unit. “Cruiser 50, give me D.S.O. up here now. D.S.O.” Injuries were mounting. “Multiple law enforcement injuries. D.S.O. get up here.” “All right, we’re 30 seconds out.” [BANG] “Cruiser 50, D.S.O. get up here.” “OK, we’re here. 12 to 50, we’re here.” Finally, one of the units in hard gear Glover’s been calling for arrives. “They should have [inaudible] stormed them when they had the chance. Like, they got all kind of [inaudible] big-ass riot cops coming down.” “We just had an explosion go on up here. I don’t know if it’s fireworks or what, but they’re starting to throw explosives.” Police escalate their response and start using more crowd-control weapons. “They’re shooting into their own people. We represent blue lives, and this is what they do to us.” “Multiple deployments thrown by Capitol, M.P.D.” “Move back.” “Move back.” “One sting ball deployed and authorized to hold the line.” “We’re coming, motherfuckers.” “They have tear gas, but we will not stop. We will not stop.” It’s been almost an hour since Glover and his team were called to the scene. “Blue lives matter. Every life matters.” “We don’t want to be here right now.” “We don’t want to have to be here.” “It’s not personal, man.” The help they need isn’t arriving. But the crowd keeps coming. “Cruiser 50 to 8600, when are the hard platoons coming?” “Sir, it’s 42. It’s the only other one until later.” [Yelling] “Let’s go. Let’s go.” “Cruiser 50, they’re scaling the scaffold. They are scaling the scaffold to the Capitol.” The crowd penetrates the scaffolding, a critical position that gives them access to stairs to the upper terraces where there are several key doors into the building. Things are so dire that Glover himself takes up crowd control armor, but it’s not enough. “Cruiser 50, they are behind our lines.” “You need to pull back our resources. If you need to go inside or pull back — if they’re getting behind you, you don’t have enough resources.” “If I give this up, they’re going to have direct access. We go to hold we have.” “Let’s go.” Within minutes, throngs snake up through the scaffolding, push past more police, up the stairs, and some reach the upper level, break through windows and the door to get inside the Capitol. But for Glover and his team, this fight is not over. They’re still on the lower terrace battling to block off the sea of people from gaining access to other doors and windows. [Yelling] Word comes over the radio that more forces are being sent to the scene. “8600. Pull more resources and send them up to the Capitol to assist 50.” “Prior to copy.” Glover even calls for mounted Park Police. “Jock radio, can the park support us with horses?” “Copy, we’re going to advise right now.” “This is now a restricted access area. Pursuant to D.C. official —” But the forces don’t arrive in time. At 2:28 p.m., sections of the police line are beginning to buckle. “Take it —” Then other parts of the line give way. “Push, push, push.” “Cruiser 50. We lost the line. We’ve lost the line.” The crowd swarms the lower terrace. Some surround the police. Officers are attacked. [Shouting] “God’s gonna judge every one of you all.” Glover finally has no choice but to order his officers to retreat. “All M.P.D., pull back up to the upper deck. All M.P.D. pull back at the upper deck ASAP. Upper deck.” [Shouting] “Take their helmets off. Get their helmets off.” “Cruiser 50. We’re flanked. 10-33. I repeat, 10-33, west front of the Capitol. We’ve been flanked and we’ve lost the line.” “We own this shit.” 10-33 means Glover is calling for immediate emergency assistance. All hands. [Shouting] “Have all units respond to assist him. Do what we’re trained to do.” “Ask all military and sworn officer to come to the Capitol.” [Chanting]