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I agree.
We have one of the most rigorous selection processes in the world, and we still have our 5% who should not be SF.
Like it or not, LE has a large percentage of people who want to protect the sheep, and a few who joined for the gun, the badge, and the authority to abuse. Unfortunately, those people tend to gravitate toward tactical units.
While Andy and Barney never had al Qaeda getting off the bus in downtown Mayberry, they also never breached anyone's door on a 0430 no knock service at the wrong address after killing the family dog with an MP-5SD.
My personal opinion is that having military gear makes it more likely that it is going to be used. When this happens, the odds are that innocents are going to be hurt.
This compromises the ability of LE to build trust and confidence in the community. IMHO, the hearts and minds of the public (and their support) are worth far more than a few million dollars of surplus military gear and a high-speed, low-drag tactical unit pulling violent raids on American citizens' homes in the wee hours.
Just my .02, YMMV.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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