I've been thinking: are the police militarised?

[OutlawTorn]

You're incredibly bias, Rowan.

Any cops here?

I've been a Canadian soldier for a decade. I've been to combat, I've done the peace keeping and humanitarian missions. As a soldier, understanding my job, as opposed to the job of civilian Law Enforcement, I'm speaking objectively from a justified perspective. I understand this because one of my best friends is a cop who lives and serves in the US. Beyond that, my mother's uncle was a decorated member of the RCMP.

Police are too militarized, because that's not they're job.


Be careful what you wish for, Rowan. The reason police in America have become that militarized is due to the level of violence, crime, and the level of risk that can be found in the streets of America. There are roughly 270 MILLION civilian firearms in America... Everyone has a gun. Innocent, upright folks walk around strapped, simply to level the playing field; for security.

If you had cops like that down below, that beautiful country of yours would be rotting with filth, sin, violence, crime and death.


That really what you want for Christmas, or are you just talking out your ass to support something you personally feel strongly about?

[Clint]

Be careful what you wish for, Rowan. The reason police in America have become that militarized is due to the level of violence, crime, and the level of risk that can be found in the streets of America. There are roughly 270 MILLION civilian firearms in America... Everyone has a gun. Innocent, upright folks walk around strapped, simply to level the playing field; for security.

Not everybody has a gun. 37% of Americans say they or someone in their household owns a gun. So that's per-household, not per population. There are 270 million guns in America. That doesn't mean that 270 million people own guns.

The police aren't using military tactics. They're using more and more SWAT tactics, but as I said before, that's paramilitary. Organized similar to a military force, but most certainly not a military force.

You aren't American. You don't live here, therefore, what you state about crime is complete speculation. As an American, I can assure you, crime is present, but it doesn't conflict with day-to-day life, generally speaking. There's the situation in Missouri, where protests become violent, a different style of policing is necessary. Paramilitary style policing was used in order to attempt to regain control of unruly civilians, and in a situation like that, that was the right call.

Police are too militarized, because that's not they're job.

Their job is to serve and protect. If a more paramilitary style is necessary to accomplish this, then that is their job.