I've seen the Daily Show (and I like Jon Stewart) argue against militarization of the police and I thought they had some mistruths and misleading information in their argument. For instance, their one argument was that the tiny little town of Doraville, GA had bought some of the expensive military grade weapons and vehicles and made it seem ridiculous that lil' ole Doraville, GA would do that because what crime could happen out there so severe in lil' ole Doraville, GA.
What the Daily Show didn't let people know is that Doraville, GA borders Atlanta, GA is the town limits of Doraville and Atlanta are so screwy that often times you don't know if you're driving thru Doraville if you're actually in Doraville or Atlanta. Much like Hapeville, GA. And Doraville had a huge spike in violent crime and had 2 separate incidents with 2 different drug gangs where the officers were severely out-gunned by the drug gangs and didn't have the proper equipment for drug raids.
Essentially, with the Iraq War being over and the military not needing much of the weapons and equipment anymore, they have been made available to police departments across the country. I do think that there should be better training of police officers on how to use military grade weapons and equipment and better procedures in place, but when the bad guys have more firepower than the cops (like they did in the North Hollywood bank shootout), it's a danger for everybody.
For instance, here's an example of an arrest I have a problem with the police procedures. The officer was legally within his right to arrest the suspect on the scorching asphalt, but I have to believe there is a better way to handle the arrest.
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