Originally Posted By: jawbone
Originally Posted By: bill

Originally Posted By: Reyn
Originally Posted By: bill

Originally Posted By: IDOT
Originally Posted By: JSOG47
I'm still trying to understand how taking an existing officer and allowing him to be slightly harder to kill erodes your liberties. That's where I'm hung.


Good luck, I've been trying to get that point across all day.


That's because you are both coming at it from only the officers point of view. Making the officer harder to kill is a good thing. Making the officer more like a soldier is a bad thing. Soldiers are trained to kill and destroy while law enforcement is supposed to protect and serve. Big difference in what the two should be but the difference is getting smaller all the time. I will agree officers have a
dangerous job but to only give credence to the dangers that officers face and ignore the intrusions into liberty and outright killing of innocent citizens by law enforcement shows a huge bias. There has to be balance between military, law enforcement and citizens. When there is a decision to be made between safety and liberty, a free people should always choose liberty.


So it's simply the "look" you don't like? I also don't understand how an armored vehicle is an intrusion into liberty and contributes to killing innocent citizens.


Law enforcement should be concerned with perception too. It goes a long way towards public relations which I know that you know is important. When the public sees an officer dressed like a soldier occupying their neighborhood it appears the police are at war instead of there to protect. You will also have some officers that take on a soldier mentality and that is never a good thing. No, it's not the majority but when you have that kind of power even one is too many.


One of the few times Bill and I agree on a LE matter. He is correct and this is why more agencies are getting away from BDU type uniforms. Also why more police academies are going more towards a college atmosphere and away from boot camp type academies. It's all about lessening the us vs. them mentality. Right or wrong, Baltimore is indicative of the mind frame in many parts of the country (excluding the professional protestors/looters).



Our differences are magnified because it's rare anyone ever talks about the good things law officers do. It's human nature to focus on all that's wrong instead of the things that are done right. We would probably agree on more than you think. I'm fascinated by how cold case units are sometimes able to piece together puzzles that have been a mystery for
years. There are some brilliant minds being used in all parts of law enforcement. Working on community relations and strictly adhering to the Constitution is crucial if the citizens and law enforcement are going to repair the broken relationships of cooperation in communities.

"Political debate: when charlatans come together to discuss their principles"
-
Bauvard