3 ms·

I get what you're saying. And by the raw numbers there's a lot of good stuff in there too. But if you look through that list you see a lot of things like "MINE

by po 12y ago

I get what you're saying. And by the raw numbers there's a lot of good stuff in there too. But if you look through that list you see a lot of things like "MINE RESISTANT VEHICLE" (probably an MRAP? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP_(armored_vehicle) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP_(armored_vehicle) )that are totally inappropriate for the local police force to be rolling around in. I'm not saying the 1033 program is a bad idea… I just think if you give someone an armored assault vehicle, it should come with the requirement that they only use it if the country is under attack or something very very serious. Better yet, give it to the guard. I used to live in NYC and have family that is NYC police and I know they deal with some crazy stuff. They dress a bit more aggressively than most police forces. I'm currently living in Japan where the image of the police is more Norman Rockwell than Soldier. I'm also reminded of reading of a hospital that switched from customizable scrubs where the nurses were picking their own patterns to standard white uniforms and got behavioural change from both patients and doctors. I wish I could find the link. So.. in some sense I do think there is a bit of a problem with even a set of boots coming from the military to the police. If you wear a respectable blue uniform your mindset turns toward earning your community's respect. If you wear jack boots, body armor and a military uniform, you look intimidating. I'm sure that's what the police want, but it's not appropriate for most normal police work and I believe it's the public's job to tell them so. Police are civilians who have special privilege to enforce the laws of society. They should be protected by the legal system, not body armor. If you need body armor to handle a protest, call in the Guard.

freditup 12y ago
We're probably mostly in agreement, even if we lean slightly different directions on some of the issues. For example, I can't think of any legitimate MRAP uses by local police either (although if anyone can point our a realistic use case, I'd definitely like to hear it). I completely agree that the police should be part of the community they work in and not some military-like third-party authority force. And because of that it presents an issue when the police look like a pseudo-military. However, I don't think in most cases police look like this, although I might be wrong. Body armor is a tough call. Just yesterday a Texas police chief was killed making a routine traffic stop, and it's understandable why officers feel constantly threatened. As far as I could find, about 65 police officers die in the line of duty each year. My first reaction is that that is pretty low, perhaps policing isn't as dangerous as one would think, but I'd need to look into it a lot more before drawing any real conclusions. It's quite possible the relatively low death toll is a result of more aggressive policing, but it could also indicate that aggressive policing isn't needed.

by po 12y ago

freditup 12y ago

We're probably mostly in agreement, even if we lean slightly different directions on some of the issues. For example, I can't think of any legitimate MRAP uses by local police either (although if anyone can point our a realistic use case, I'd definitely like to hear it). I completely agree that the police should be part of the community they work in and not some military-like third-party authority force. And because of that it presents an issue when the police look like a pseudo-military. However, I don't think in most cases police look like this, although I might be wrong. Body armor is a tough call. Just yesterday a Texas police chief was killed making a routine traffic stop, and it's understandable why officers feel constantly threatened. As far as I could find, about 65 police officers die in the line of duty each year. My first reaction is that that is pretty low, perhaps policing isn't as dangerous as one would think, but I'd need to look into it a lot more before drawing any real conclusions. It's quite possible the relatively low death toll is a result of more aggressive policing, but it could also indicate that aggressive policing isn't needed.