My very conservative rural wealthy county west of Richmond, VA does NOT have a SWAT team. For many of the reasons listed above. Our Sheriff & his deputies are very conservative, generally. I know none who are not.
They do have a small team specially trained with a lot of “SWAT” type equipment (tried some on myself), but it is rarely and hesitantly used - BUT NEVER AS A FIRST RESPONSE.
The team has a non-threatening name I can’t remember now, and only is called in by officers who are facing a difficult and threatening encounter who need additional help and re-inforcement.
I really like their thinking and approach. I’ve taken the Sheriff’s Academy training, and it is great.
A few years ago an NRA magazine had a full dressed SWAT member on its cover with an article extolling the creation of SWAT. I sent them a letter that that is exactly what I would expect to see at my door one day to confiscate my firearms.
Take a look at how the cartels in Mexico are armed. Th cartel armory is full of high powered military grade weapons. All the way from assault rifles too heavy machine guns.The Mexican military is just as well armed. Local police or sheriffs departments need to be able to deal with US criminals armed like the cartels.I remember a bank robbery in LA several years ago where two robbers In body armor and armed with assault rifles totally out gunned the officers who responded to robbery. Shotguns and 9mm pistols were worthless. It was not till officers were given assault rifles by local gun shops that they ended it. Law enforcement needs trained SWAT to deal with incidents like took place in LA.
Many years ago (like a generation ago) my enlistment was coming to an end so I applied for jobs with police departments. At the time I really wanted to go with the County Sheriffs because they had basically a small military organization. They had aircraft, one had what amounted to a cavalry with horses for remote patrols, rescues and protests. Except in major metro areas, the SWAT teams for the entire county resided with the Sheriffs office. They were the special forces, only called in during extreme situations. Eventually even small city departments had SWAT teams many poorly trained. Combat vets brought a higher level of skill learned in places like Fallujah. Add in No Knock Warrants initiated by SWAT teams and it is a recipe for a disaster. Innocent people have been killed in SWAT led raids. During the war, Marines and Sailors were in the break room watching the news. It was showing a live news feed during a police raid. The SWAT team stacked up to rush the door. The men in the room had just returned from Iraq and were being medically screened. They started laughing and joking about the stupid cops, that's not how you stack up....they must have received Army training....etc (they were Marines) Today some of those men or others like them are on SWAT teams and they are very efficient in conducting house to house operations.
I agree with demilitarization of the police force. It seems like a purposeful loophole/bypassing of Posse Comitatus to have military strength police units.
There is always a need to have highly trained police for the “break glass” moment but police need to get back to community policing and walking the beat. I like when they are on the street. One of my fondest memories was the Philadelphia Mounted Police who were great for us kids in Fairmount Park.
If you don’t want them to have military overtones, then don’t demand that they conform to paramilitary regulations, and training.
The ONLY solution is to eliminate SWAT teams, no knock warrants and possession of military weapons or equipment of any kind with absolutely no exceptions. It can't be that police have this stuff but only use it as a last resort. Government simply does not work that way ever. Take any government power or rule and it will be used everywhere, all the time, anytime it can be justified by even the most unreasonable excuse. The reason is simple and that is there is never anyone outside of government to say NO once they have power over any given situation. That is just the nature of government.
This is the reason we can't have SWAT at all. It will NEVER be used in a reasonable controlled manner and the results we have today speak for themselves. In fact we tried limited swat and no knock warrants on a limited basis. No one ever said they should be used as a first choice but again we were believing a fairy tale. Government is NOT reasonable by it's very nature. This should be obvious to everyone by now. It's all or nothing in government and the only acceptable answer in this case is nothing. The police must not have the ability to make war.
Lastly, while some see the issue of militarization of the police as just one aspect that needs reform the reality is it is the root of all the conflict that we see today. Everything wrong with our police stems from the one evil seed of SWAT, the possession of military equipment and no knock warrants that enable their use. Take these "tools" away and the conflict will resolve itself.
Get off the drugs, David Keene.