When did the job of the police switch from "Protect and Serve" being local people serving the community and making the streets safer to strictly a Para-Military Law Enforcment mentality that reminds me of the T-shirts the MPs down at Cherry Point used to wear with the phrase "Don't confuse your rank with my authority" on the back?? Just a Question. Interested in the responses.

It started with LAPD's Daryl Gates and his creation of SWAT- Special Weapons ATTACK Team.  

Read more about it here:

[url]www.findarticles.com/m1282/9_52/61892071/p1/article.jhtml[/url]

HiYa SGB, So protect and serve is no longer the primary function of leo's ??
I think I have finally stumbled upon the genesis of our social ills !!!
Why dont leo's "protect and serve " anymore ?
and what IS the alternative ?
[x]

OK, honestly, how do we get back to the old way ??
This is why I refer to leo's as ticket writing tax collectors. I have several friends who are leo and I have, on occasion socialized with leo's in groups. Almost every complaint I hear about involves either traffic cops or swat style teams. the average leo on patrol that I have dealt with has a completely different ATTITUDE than the other 2 catagories.
It just seems that they are more aggresive and show a "I'm the man in charge, respect me" attitude than others.
even when they get caught(breaking down the wrong door)they act defensive instead of appologetic.
I dont dislike leo's but they need to improve their image and tactics or things will just get worse.
51 out...

It's [i]really[/i] bad here.  I've gotten into a couple of verbal altercations w/ LEOs w/ that "air of superiority" & even had a couple threaten to take me to jail because I called attention to it!  Most seem to be [b]very[/b] young to bear the true responsibility that they have no real idea they stand for.  Just an observation.  I believe the "old way" has gone the way of the dodo, 51.

There is a lot of the problem.  We have become such a suit happy society that LEO's have to be extremely careful what they do even when they are trying to help someone.  One of the results of all the lawsuits was that the U.S. Supreme court ruled sometime in the last few years that the police were not obligated to protect citizens.  

Actually, it was 'Special Weapons and Tactics'.

From the David Kopel article:

"The Los Angeles police department started the trend in the 1960s when future police chief Daryl Gates created the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. Gates had originally wanted to call it a "Special Weapons Attack Team," but changed the name for public-relations purposes."

One could argue that it goes back even further. say to the days of prohibition and the famous outlaws like John Dillinger and Bonnie & Clyde and the like. Police felt it neccesary to add automatic weapons, armored cars and bullet proof vests to their inventories for the first time and have really never turned back. My Dept. has an armored Studebaker from the 30's. It was in service until the early 80's and is now in a local auto museum. We still have 1921 model Thompsons in our arsenal. The para military trend come and goes. There is a training focus now on civil disturbances(riot control) and mass shootings. The solutions to these situations seems to lean towards the para military.

Actually Imbrog, I was responding to Troy's 'Special Weapons Assault Team' post.  I read the article and saw what you are talking about.  Doesn't surprise me with Gates.

I think you guys have missed something...maybe about the last ten years or so.

The "us against them" mentality was a product of the professional model of policing. The professionial model developed, primarily in LA but also in other large, rapiud growth urban areas, in the 1950s to the 1980s. It was a response to rampant corruption and ineptitude seen in large east coast police departments. The police would avoid the direct community ties that were often seen in out East, and would have rigid, paramilitary structures, strictly enforced procedures and policies, and a high level of professionalism and accountability. This worked pretty well. The problem was that oftentimes, the distance effected the police's ability to effectively work in lower economic urban areas, particularly minority dominated ones, leading to long-standing feelings of racism on the part of those citizens.

As a response, many departments instituted "community policing" in the 80s and 90s. Community policing emphasized closer relationships with the community, working with the community to solve problems (instead of imposing them) and better communications, from the street level on up to the top. Community policing dealt with a lot of what people here seem to be whining about. The problem was, that community policing went too far, at times (familiarity breeds contempt). Community policing strategies are being modified, mostly to make other governmental entities do their jobs (like shutting down crack houses for health code violations and cleaning up the grafitti). In a lot of cities, the police departments are the most progressive agencies when it comes to getting anything done, and they get called about everything, anyway, because they are usually the only (or at least the most prominent) government agencies that are open 24 hours a day.

As for SWAT teams, they are necessary and needed. True mistake by these teams are rare, especially in light of the fact that in any medium sized city in this country, there are probably several SWAT operations each week, and they do not receive any media attention because, good or bad, the nature of crime in this country has changed to where such operations are routine. Yes, SWAT came about in the 1960s, and became prevalent in the 80s and 90s. And that is a good thing. When police departments did not have SWAT Teams, the number of officers killed was significantly higher. Better tactics and training for all police officers has lowered these numbers significantly. In the "old days" the first cop on the scene was expected to handle most incidents, and that worked a lot of the time. The times it did not, police officers and innocent members of the public got killed. SWAT addresses those kind of situations.

My agency started a swat team approx. 20 years ago after a deputy shot and killed a barricaded subject. The grand jury cleared the officer of the shooting, but reprimmanded the agency for not having a group of special trained and equipt team of deputy's to handle barricaded and hostage situations. I was on swat for 12 years and have ran into the "I am in charge" police officer. Unfortunately there are a few bad apples in every police department.

I agree with "natez" unless you work in law enforcement, you do not realized how many times swat is used.
I went to a swat school in 1980. I was told swat stood for Special Weapons and Tactics. Because of the perception the public has of swat,now, warmer and fuzzy words like SRT, Heat, and other cute names are being used to idenify tactical teams.
They are a VERY important tool in law enforcement and have there place as does marine units, etc.