Friday morning, each of the 1,800 cameras inside the Capitol Police command center was busily broadcasting live feeds as a handful of officers were going about their day. The cameras reveal what’s going on around the Capitol complex, but they also cover points well beyond the reach of the complex. And on this day, one of the cameras was showing something that caused one officer to stop in his tracks.

Some 3,000 miles away during the early morning hours in San Francisco, the officer noticed police lights flashing outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That’s according to officials, per The Washington Post.

The officer was now fully aware that something was terribly wrong and he quickly pulled up more camera angles from around the Pelosi home. Backtracking, he watched the recordings all the way back before the police arrived. Now he could see a man, armed with a hammer, smash his way through the speaker’s home, say three people who are well-acquainted with the way that Capitol Police discovered the break-in. These folks were either briefed about the situation or had watched the footage themselves.

The 911 call and the ensuing struggle inside the Pelosi home have led to charges of attempted homicide of Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul and attempted kidnapping of the speaker. When you consider the fact that she’s second in line to the president, this highlights the seriousness of this situation.

The Post notes:

“The incident has also put a spotlight on the immensity — and perhaps the impossibility — of law enforcement’s task to protect the 535 members of Congress at a time of unprecedented numbers of threats against them.”

But if Capitol Police were going to stop an attack at any of the homes of members of Congress, their best chance of doing just that is, in fact, at Pelosi’s home. That’s according to several current and former law enforcement officials who spoke under conditions of anonymity to the Post because the break-in is still under investigation.

Pelosi is unique among members of Congress. Some members face threats from time to time but Pelosi, according to the Post, is “the subject of the most violent death threats against any lawmaker, and their volume is both high and continuous,” one law enforcement official said.

“Police attribute the scale of the threats to her being demonized by Republicans, being a woman, and being second in line to the presidency. She has a protective detail of two or three diplomatic security agents of the Capitol Police wherever she travels, including inside the Capitol, as well as a police officer who is a driver,” the official said.

Capitol Police installed cameras around the Pelosi home beginning eight years ago; she also has an around-the-clock security detail. In the months after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, a San Francisco police cruiser sat parked outside her home 24/7. But last week when Pelosi traveled back to D.C., most of the security detail left with her, and officers in D.C. stopped continuously monitoring the cameras outside her own.

The sad thing is that while threats to lawmakers aren’t particularly rare, in the era of Donald Trump, threats of violence against lawmakers that have been recorded by Capitol Police have increased drastically — from roughly 900 cases in 2016 to 9,625 in 2021. During that same time period, the share of threats that federal authorities investigate for potential criminal prosecution ranged between seven percent to 17 percent of cases referred by Capitol Police.

Trying to provide adequate protection for 535 members of Congress is a daunting task for law enforcement agencies. In the two years since the attempted insurrection, Capitol Police have worked to complete some 100 security improvements that outside experts have recommended. This includes improving officer training, additional equipment, and protocols; and adding extra staff.

All that sounds peachy but Capitol Police have also had to deal with a tenfold increase in threats to members of Congress. All of whom regularly return to their home districts and travel across the country.

And in a statement Tuesday, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger noted improvements have been made, and the district will be hiring an additional 280 officers this year. But, he warned — the “political climate” in the U.S. is going to require “additional layers of physical security.”

This is all due to most of Trump’s more fanatical supporters — like the ones who said they wanted to hang Mike Pence as the January 6 attack unfolded. The ones who believe every single QAnon conspiracy theory and look to Marjorie Taylor Greene for their “news.” This is a sad and disgusting situation.

The last pieces of the original MAGA Pelosi Attack Conspiracies are coming apart. Why were there no security cameras???? There were, they recorded it, and showed the guy breaking in. https://t.co/B0S4pVhczo

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 2, 2022

Shameful. And nearly all of this can be placed at the feet of one man who refuses to take responsibility for what he’s caused. A man who portrays himself as a victim when it’s others who are suffering.