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North Hollywood Shootout (1997) – A tipping point in police militarization
- eezurr 6y agoI thought this article would be relevant given the current political climate. This covers a historical event in which the police were out-gunned and the aftermath playing an important role in the gear-augmentation of police forces. WSJ article https://web.archive.org/web/20150702091610/http://www.policemag.com/channel/weapons/articles/print/story/2012/02/how-the-north-hollywood-shootout-changed-patrol-rifles.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20150702091610/http://www.police...
- eesmith 6y agoSee also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout , which "contributed to the increasing trend of law enforcement agencies to switch from revolvers to semi-automatics across the nation". Or further back in time. "Another reason for the creation of SWAT teams was the fear of lone or barricaded gunmen who might outperform police in a shootout, as happened in Austin with Charles Whitman." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT It's a series of step functions, ratcheting up the police to handle new worst-case scenarios. And training them to think that anything can be a new worst-case scenarios. Like selling lose cigarettes or potentially using a fake $20.