For the life of me, I cannot envision ANY event where police have to look like infantry. Riots? Civil Unrest? Call out the National Guard.
One problem (of many) with this militarization of the oilce is like what's happened with SWAT Teams. "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Hence we have thme kicking in doors for white collar crimes, or worse yet, shooting dogs and people when attacking the wrong house.
SWAT was invented to deal with high risk violent offenders and high risk search warrants.
I cannot speak for every department..especially smaller ones...but a roommates is used to determine if SWAT will handle a search warrant.
I will not give out those things that trigger the matrix pointing to SWAT handling it instead of a precinct level personnel servicing the warrant.
But suffice it to say....SWAT won’t waste their time on low risk stuff.
You see larger agencies gearing up (aka having some hardened personal gear like plate carriers with riflenround ratings) so officers responding to active shooters have more protection in cases of school shootings, workplace shootings, mallnshootings, and less likely but a real risk which will eventually happen....the terrorist event that includes active shootings.
The Boston Marathon incident turned into this.
Nobody, myself included, wants to see an army of occupation that is called a police department roaming the streets like a bad movie.
I don’t see that happening and I wouldn’t be a part of that.
Preparedness isn’t a bad thing though....unless the govt turns on the people.
If the feds and states held less power over the people, as the founders intended, then there would be much less concern about the police because the armed agents of the government wouldn’t be cause for as much concern.
Thats my opinion anyway.