In two separate civil unrest situations, I listened for the LE explanation.
1. Downtown Huntington Beach suffered from more, and more trouble in the late 1980s. Mobs of young drinkers, fireworks hooligans went from house, to house. Each year authoorities would dial up measures.
Eventually the young rioters were setting fires at intersections, dancing around. On woman was threatened. CNN feattures the mayhem.
A friend/neighbor served on police duty that night. I asked him why it took so long?
He explained Police must first assemble adequate resources, instead of rush in undprepared.
In 1992 LAPD chief Brad Gates was questioned why he waited, to use more force after the Rodney King verdict riots
His answer the same; n that LE must first assemble, organize adequate force, before deploying it.
In Scot Adams' bestselling latest book, "Loserthink," he identifies "Why didn't you do the right thing sooner, as a universal criticism. It gets an entire chapter.