Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
Wasn't some of the upgrades in part due to that North Hollywood bank robbery many years ago? The robbers had crazy weaponry and the cops were essentially helpless. I think at one point the guy just walked down the middle of the street firing wherever he wanted to and they couldn't stop him.
I feel if something happened like that happened today we'd have a lot of people complaining about the police not being prepared. Seems like a no-win situation.
That's not excusing some of the aggressive crap that's taken place (post above mentions 2 of many cases). But having police prepared to at least handle the worst case scenario isn't necessarily bad.
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I do agree - I guess the problem is if the acquisition of this more powerful hardware fuels the machismo of the officers and/or leads to people applying to be cops just so they can indulge their military fantasies without having to join the military, and these two things lead to them using unnecessary force so that they can play with their toys.
It's a double-edged sword and I don't pretend to have the answer.