Posted on 03/31/2016 10:59:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Miami-Dade Police are preparing for the worst and arming more officers with more powerful weapons, assault-style AR-15 rifles, to go up against the criminals' weapon of choice, the AK-47.
"The bad guys are improving their armament and so we have to do so as well," said Lt. Mario Knapp with MDPD.
Lt. Knapp trains patrol officers and first responders to deal with active shooter situations.
"We don't have time to wait for SRT. We don't have time to wait for tactical teams. We've got to be able to handle the threat as it comes," he said.
Video from ballistics company, ATS Armor, shows how a new bulletproof vest protects against a high-powered rifle. That's something soft body armor does not do. The additional rifles and new vests are a new approach to dealing with Miami-Dade's most violent criminals.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, at the firing range Thursday, received an up-close look at the new equipment.
"God forbid we have some kind of terrorist act here, lone wolf, wolf pack that's terrorizing Miami-Dade. Our first responders are going to be the first ones there, they need to have the firepower they need to have the protection. That's why we did it," Mayor Gimenez explained.
"In the theater in Colorado, in Paris, it's happening. It is a matter of when it is going to happen here, not if, but when it is going to happen in Miami," Knapp said.
Several hundred patrol officers are already armed with the rifles and new vests; hundreds more are being ordered. The goal is for all 1,400 officers to be better armed and better protected. Published at 4:58 PM EDT on
soon, in order to keep up, we are going to need to know how to make and use improvised electromagnetic pulse weaponry. I am not joking. Guns will be obsolete with little machines are running/ flying after you.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Dept., has been using ceramic plate inserts in their vest for some time and each cruiser has an AR-15 in the trunk. For a high crime area like Miami-Dade their a little slow.
Who are the police at war with?
Criminals use handguns for 99+% of all firearms-related crimes. And they are even worse shots than the police.
It is not that the police are very good shots either. In real gunfights, police hit their target about 1 shot in 5 attempts.
That is a lot of stray rounds in a gunfight. Bystanders had better get under cover or get out of the area quickly. It's a good thing most gunfights do not last very long.
This has not changed much for over 50 years.
One thing that has changed is that police casualties from criminal attacks are sharply down over the last 20 years. Things were going quite well until recently when the politicians messed up Ferguson and Baltimore and Chicago and New York, and Florida.
But police do like their new toys.
This should end well.
IF it has come to it that police need these type of weapons because of muslim terrorists, then maybe that should tell the fed gov something.
It is infuriating that this is necessary, or even advisable.
Those criminals should be taken off our streets permanently.
You are exactly correct.
There may be good reasons to replace a shotgun with an AR-15 type rifle. The rifle is more precise, has longer range, and less likely to hit an unintended target.
But the idea that criminals are using AK 47 rifles in any significant amount is rubbish.
Change would be an AKM.
Gotta keep up with the Mexican drug cartels.
I saw a bumper sticker reading: “Come back to Miami. We weren’t shooting at you.”
Writing to you live from Miami-Dade, I can tell you they're not. Most violent crime is the street and drive-by stuff in the hood, all too often with bystanders (little kids even) getting shot -- not with AKs, but with the usual handguns. This is a precautionary measure against a terrorist or gone-postal scenario. We know that happens.
I moved from Miami in 1984. My BP dropped 10 points just getting out of there.
If someone asks where I’m from I say ‘the drug and thug capital, Miami.’
Have you ever been involved in a real-life firefight? Bullets coming at you fast & furious? You’d only hit 1 out of 5 shots too........it simply ain’t the firing range where you can take your time getting your sight picture.....
Most cops probably practice far more than you......or me - and I have my own range on my country acreage in front of my house.....
“......each cruiser has an AR-15 in the trunk.”....
In the TRUNK! Yepper, right handy when needed in a hurry.
Preposterous! Didn't you see "Scarface", or "Miami Vice"? /sarc
The civilian members of that range get far more practice than the police get, and are considerably better shooters because of that.
Target shooting is not combat shooting. I get that. I have never been in live-fire combat. I doubt that I would do very well in combat. I know people who did and I tend to trust their opinions.
Police shootings are not the same as Military combat. Most police shootings are at less than 20 feet, use fewer than 8 rounds and last less than 10 seconds.
The training and equipment that Police like may not match up very well with what they actually have to do.
That’s the way it works. No different than a civilian being told that he/she must keep their firearms under lock and key in the glove compartment while traveling.
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