"WTF! Is this really how Americans see their police?
I live in Wisconsin, in a small town of 20,000.
Our police department has an armored car, with a mount for a water cannon. We've got a TAC [1] team. Our cops carry rifles in the trunks of their patrol cars.
Elsewhere you can find comparable sized police departments that have .50 machine guns, armored personel carriers.
So .. yeah. That's not how we see the police.
It's how they are.
[1] A TAC team is not a SWAT team, although the only difference I can see is our TAC team is only a part-time deal for the officers.
I live in a small Pennsylvania borough with an operating budget of about $1 mil/year (this includes all services for the entire borough of 3-4 precincts).
Our police department is 8 full-time officers and 3 part-time officers with I believe 2 full-time admin/support staff in the office. We have 5 cruisers, 4 SUVs and at the last borough council meeting the council approved the purchase of a 6th brand new cruiser and a new fleet of AR-15 style rifles for the officers.
During all your years on sentry duty, how often did you find yourself in situations where you needed to shoot someone? Do the police find themselves in that situation more frequently (or are they significantly more likely to)?
Also, in the event that you did, how far away was your nearest armed support? Sixty seconds? Less?
Three times in 2 3/4 years I had a weapon drawn, round in the chamber.
Twice I did not have a target. Once, I did but he obligingly put his hands up when ordered.
how far away was your nearest armed support? Sixty seconds? Less?
Depended on the sentry post, other factors. Sometimes right behind me. Other times minutes away, at best.
If your point is that police are more likely to encounter bad guys than a Marine guarding strategic assets .. maybe.
How does the police department owning a armored personnel carrier help a patrol officer at a traffic stop? How often does your average Mayberry police department encounter bad guys who can only be overcome by a SWAT team?
"How does the police department owning a armored personnel carrier help a patrol officer at a traffic stop?"
And how does the USN carrying nuclear weapons help you check passes at the gate?
That aside, yes, my suggestion was that the police are more likely to need the firepower than you were, and were more likely to have to get by on their own for longer before support turned up.
I live in Wisconsin, in a small town of 20,000.
Our police department has an armored car, with a mount for a water cannon. We've got a TAC [1] team. Our cops carry rifles in the trunks of their patrol cars.
Elsewhere you can find comparable sized police departments that have .50 machine guns, armored personel carriers.
So .. yeah. That's not how we see the police.
It's how they are.
[1] A TAC team is not a SWAT team, although the only difference I can see is our TAC team is only a part-time deal for the officers.