A straw-man and a lie, nice start, Rowan.

What, you want police to walk around in their underwear when people are trashing and burning down buildings?
Of course not. And yes, if police were expecting a riot, having some portion of them wearing riot gear seems perfectly reasonable. The police deserve to have equipment that keeps them safe, and no expense should be spared for them. But don't you think dressing up for battle—they literally used surplus military equipment—provokes a certain type of reaction?

Today I went to a Christmas parade. There were police wearing Santa hats and handing out candy. People smiled at them. The actions and behaviour of the police can easily provoke reactions from the community. In Ferguson, they were ready for Iraq. How can you expect a peaceful response to that?

The majority of people were pillaging their own community.
That is simply not true. The vast majority of people protested peacefully. That just doesn't make for good photos on the front page, I suppose.

[Cool, thanks for keeping on topic, Rowan.]