Lubbock SWAT, "We're going to need more ammunition"

[url]http://sanantoniolightning.com/lubb1.html[/url]

And Oly wonders why I don't want SWAT in my hometown.  Sure accidental shooting occur with ordinary officers, but ordinary officers don't have the capacity to expend 369 rounds in a few short moments.

SWAT sucks.  They are only "needed" in large cities, and I sometimes doubt their usefulness there.

I still don't agree with you. Perhaps they shouldn't arm idiots at all.

I keep saying - properly trained, led, and supervised. I don't think these guys meet that standard.

Both of you make good points.

Oly is right about proper training. And probably most depts. start out with enthusiasm and proper training. But when budget cuts happen what is the first thing to go? Training.

Wow, a productive discussion about LEO's.

Maybe we need someone like LEAA to do a *real* study of what it costs to properly establish, train, equip, and maintain a SWAT unit.  Then, the a study that indicates the need and proper application of SWAT.

It seems like we have a lot of SWAT deployments in inappropriate uses, probably to justify their expense.

EXACTLY!!!

... that's f**king pathetic.

Tyler

IMO, we should go back to using the local militia, and drop all of this specialized SWAT stuff. The people who live in the neighborhood no doubt have a better idea of who needs being shot and who doesn't, and they probably shoot better than SWAT anyway. Since most of the locals have probably seen [i]Ronin[/i], they no doubt know you are not supposed to set up your poeple so they are shooting at each other.

As a side benifit, going back to the militia system will test our commitment to law enforcment activities like the war on drugs.

While bringing back the milita to replace SWAT would bring political security, as a practical matter, it wouldnt work too well.  They reason why Americans have grudgingly accepted professional police departments over the last century is they got tired of possemen fucking up all the time and either killing the wrong people, or killing people they didnt have to.

Many of the traits that make people good beat cops and good detectives make them BAD door kickers- and the reverse is even MORE true, as SWAT cops naturally start to develop a militeristic attitude.  Anyone who doesnt wear a uniform is potentially the enemy, like Vietnam.

Solution?  Seperate the two functions.  Cities and towns shouldnt have SWAT.  Either each State should have a SWAT force- like the Texas Ranger Battalions of the 1870's and 80's- or the Counties should. If at the county level they should not be under the elected Sherrif; instead bring back the County Lieutenants, the appointed State officers that used to be in charge of each counties milita element in the days before the National Guard.  Use National Guard aircraft and helicopters- which already exist and already HAVE to be flown a minimum number of hours a year to maintain proficency- to move them around each State.

This way, the local police can ingratiate themselves into the community without incidents of them having to act like Jack Booted Thugs spoiling the rapport.  When someone does need to be taken down, you get a warrant, deliver it to the local SWAT unit, and they take the person or place down, and go back home immediately afterwards.  These men should work on a rotation like firefighters, and when they are on duty they train or study the whole time except when they are on a call out.

Of course the last time I mentioned this I was accused of trying to organise a Gestapo or WaffenSS for the government by the Libertarians.  Funny that the people of Texas and Pennsylvania, who almost simultainioulsy raised the first such units in America in the early 1870's, didn't see it as the creation of a "standing army" or as being in opposition to or in replacement of a armed citizenry. Rather it was simply a realisation that the general public could not pursue criminals AND their occupations simultainiously, and then also find time to learn to do police work properly.  It was a DELEGATION of authority not a ABDICATION of it, or so it was seen at the time.