I’ve noticed more than a few articles, in various online news sites across the country, concerning the trend of local police departments becoming more and more militarized. Much of it is a result of the enormous amount of funding, in the form of grants, handed down to police departments following the 9/11 event. Also, there’s the threat, either real or perceived, that certain segments of criminal society might be better armed than most police departments.
Police departments are, in fact, loading up with exotic weapons and vehicles that, in all probability, most of them will never need. You may have seen accounts of tanks and other armored vehicles, and reports from local administrators admitting that they didn’t need some of this equipment but were not going to turn it down – even if it directly contributes to the growing debt the nation is accumulating. If this equipment were truly free, then I would have no problem with any department accumulating as much as it can. But, we all know that it’s tax dollars that make it all possible. Far too many people see “grants” as some source of free money that never came from the pockets of taxpayers.
But that’s not the only problem. The other problem is the growing trend of local law enforcement officers presenting themselves to the public in full battle dress just to patrol the neighborhood. In Wichita Falls, I’ve seen officers on traffic stops decked out on BDUs, “drop“ holsters, and external body armor.
This is not how I want to see our local police officers. I prefer “Class A” uniforms and an attitude that they are part of the community that pays them, and not some group dispatched to earth from another planet and answering only to some inter galactic authority. But that’s just me. If a need arises for the extra equipment, break it out and use it. Wearing it every day, “just in case”, sends the wrong message, in my opinion.
A couple of these combat-ready officers came out to the Allred Unit one day to go to the craft shop either to place, or check on, an order. They were told that it would be a lot easier to get through the metal detector if they left all of that hardware in the car. I hope they were on their “lunch hour”, but somehow I seriously doubt it.
And, for the record, it’s not just police departments that are dropping the “Class A” uniform. I see evidence of more private security operations doing the same thing.
Maynard
