Whats wrong with our swat teaM?
Yes they were, amazing stupidity.ummm, werent they shooting directly across from each other?? wtf
You're not kidding.Marksmanship. Most LEO's cannot spell it and ideal range conditions, and when they have to shoot in these type of high pucker incidents. Look out.
You're not kidding.
Police: Bullet Meant For Alleged Captor Hit Hostage - News Story - WMAQ | Chicago
That's from a shooting last year here in Valpo. The officer had the barrel of his AR15 pointed at the front of his car while the sights were looking over it (just barely). He fired once and didn't see the armed man go down at a ridiculously close range because the bullet glanced off the front of his vehicle. Not thinking, he fired again and once again the bullet glanced off the front of the car, missing the gunman and this time killing the hostage.
They took AR15's away from patrol officers after the incident.
What's even more alarming is that police are being armed with government surplus M16's and running around with them in residential areas.
These are the people I am supposed to call for help. I think I will wait till things calm down and just have them take a report.
I didn't say I was. He's one of hundreds of thousands. It just so happens he takes the time to practice with his weapon on his own at his own personal expense.If your buddy is quite capable with his M16, why are you alarmed that it was issued to him?
Don't get me wrong, police should have access to modern rifles like the AR15. A weapon doesn't make an organization militant on it's own.The "militarization" of our police departments was begun in response the the threats officers were facing on the job. No one in their right mind would do this work, for this pay, knowing they were forced to be undergunned and undertrained constantly. It took the death of a MCSD deputy to get a patrol rifle program for the department. Later on it took the death of an IPD officer for IPD to get a patrol rifle program. Some may see that as the militariztion of the departments, the officers simply see it as leveling the odds. Why should police officers armed with handguns be forced to take on violent felons armed with rifles? It doesn't make sense.
I don't ever want to live in a city without police. Police are quite necessary in a modern society. What I don't appreciate is when the police look down upon the civilian population and treat us as though we're subjects to be controlled. Assist me but don't treat me like a subject. I say this because of interactions with Chicago area police, whom I now despise. Here in Indiana things aren't nearly as bad.Many believe, especially members of firearm related forums, that they don't need police officers assistance to handle their problems and they very well may be right. But for every one who doesn't, there are 25 who do and when they call they expect us to respond and do everything we can to resolve the issue.
I completely agree. SWAT serves a very useful purpose. But many departments abuse the use of these teams. They go from being "high risk" to being used for just about every warrant or police action you can think of. In essence, you're taking a military force and policing with it when you do that.I can't speak for every agency in the country but I can tell you that our SWAT team exists to do the work that your every day officer isn't prepared to do. It is much more cost effective to train a small group to go after the baddest of the bad than to expect everyone on the department to do it. It takes a great deal of training to reduce the chances of officers getting killed when faced with violent people.
We're not so far apart in our line of thinking. I agree with this 100%.As far as continuing the "militarization" of our police departments goes, I think there should be some sort of control put in place. There are far too few small agencies who get ahold of a Blackhawk catalog and a few DRMO M16 rifles and decide they're gonna have a SWAT team. It's a dangerous situation for everyone involved in my opinion and it should be regulated somehow. I don't know how to go about it but something should be in place.
I agree with this completely as well.I do believe that SWAT teams are necessary in today's society. With the propensity for violence as it is, there needs to be some way of dealing with it other than expecting underequipped and undertrained police officers in to be gunned down.
I'm not so macho that I think I can handle any situation that comes at me. I do feel like I am the first line of defense for myself and my family. I carry every where I go that I legally can. I train regularly and also have formal military training (MCSF). But I completely support local authorities and only ask that they show me the same respect.Like I said earlier, you may be able to handle any situation that you find yourself in and that's great, I wholeheartedly support your RTKBA but there are a lot of people who choose not to exercise that right. When they call for help they expect a response. When we respond we expect to be provided the equipment and training to deal with whatever we find at the end of the road.
It would seem that we're not that far apart in our views.