I NEEED IT!!!!!!
... is what my grandbaby says when we pass the toy section at wal-mart. Statisticly, American cops should go un-armed like our UK cousins because the average cop never fires his weapon in the line of duty. However, you have the incidents like the LA bank job that blow the law of averages way out of the water. I've made 35 years on the job and never fired my weapon in the line of duty except to put down injured animals. Have I pulled it out of the holster but not fired it? Oh, HELL yeah! The presence of a weapon has caused many a dirt bag to reconsider his options.
Here in the deep South ( 17 frikkin degrees as i type this, brrrr), cops don't get paid much. The 7 man dept i work at just hit ten dollars an hour last year. Individual cops have to make major sacrifices to buy high dollar weapons. So, if the .gov types want to donate surplus toys to the department, wooo-hooo. I'd never have gotten the opportunity to shoot full-auto, otherwise (4-F for the draft in 1971). They gave us 2 M16s and two M14s. Now, God Forbid, if something major goes down in our area we have some TOOLS which might help us get things resolved quicker. Did we need full auto? no, semi would have been fine. but they werent offering 30-30s.
Maybe its just me, but I try to "what if?" things alot. Some are simple 'things go to sh.. on a traffic stop' scenarios, some go to the 'what if a bunch of Breslan-type terrorists come out of their sleeper-cell in Huntsville or Birmingham and attack our schools here? The knowledge that I have a M14 in the trunk of my patrol car gives me some comfort.
I just came out of BDU's back into a regular uniform. Cost per uniform went up from ~$60.00 to ~$100.00. Do I look better now? yes. Is it going to cost my taxpayers more when i rip up a uniform on the job? yes. Did I wear BDU's because I wanted to look like a SEAL/RANGER/DELTA commando? No, that is what they told me to wear.
I don't like the militarization/look in law enforcement because i think it further divides the police from their community. But, if you dig a little deeper, you may find its about saving money rather than pretending to be something we're not.
My thoughts.
oc71
