>You'd think the solution to "scared" and well armed officers wouldn't be more weapons. >Tasers were heralded as a way to reduce casualties because they were a

>You'd think the solution to "scared" and well armed officers wouldn't be more weapons. >Tasers were heralded as a way to reduce casualties because they were a less-than-lethal replacement for guns, but now cops are still shooting unarmed people dead and using tasers as legal torture devices. >US police doesn't exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to the equation "problems + more equipment = less problems". As much as I hate the entrenched corruption the MA state police stands for they seem to be content to waste taxpayer money on useless toys and enriching themselves (recurring falsified time-card scandal anyone?). It is thankfully very rare for them to kill people under questionable circumstances so I can't complain too much about them wasting a little more on a cool toy. This is kind of how the deal works, the state is basically buying their good behavior and letting them have toys a reasonable parent would say no to is part of that. I generally agree with you about giving additional hardware to police not turning out well for the people being policed though.