So is it appropriate for law enforcement at the state and local level to have so called "armored vehicles'?
Is it ever appropriate to have one in the inventory?
Is it ever appropriate to have one in the inventory?
Ray
Technically speaking as long as you don't store it I believe you can make as much tannerite as you want. Does that count?
I can see uses for them in limited areas of the country. Ones that are the most prime terrorist targets possible. A standard that would be under the title of strict scrutiny. Where the departments/cities who were asking for it would be required to prove the need, not just the desire.
Probem is that Pandora's box has already been opened as far as that is concerned, and right now the determining factor seems to be "does this look cool?"
Sounds a lot like the should a private citizen be allowed to have an AR15, high capacity mags, etc... question. In that situation most of us seem to support the idea that the tool isn't dangerous itself and it is the person operating it that chooses to do good or bad things with it. I think that in the hands of good, responsible police officers that an armored vehicle could be a valuable asset to protect officers lives. Unfortunately, in the hands of the irresponsible ones they could be used in less than honorable ways. Same can be said of private citizen AR15 ownership, but I don't think most of us are ready to give up our ARs just yet.
Well, being one of the officers that utilize such a piece of equipment I say this to those who oppose it.... the next time a mentally unstable person with a firearm is shooting at the general public and the police...you come deal with him.
Like has been pointed out, its all about how the equipment is used.
Like has been pointed out, its all about how the equipment is used.
The mounted patrol in Wilmington, NC does look mighty good and professional. I don't know how they act, but they sure look good.
Some cops do ride horses still.
That said, I see no reason for the police not to have 1 or 2 of these in inventory:
http://www.lencoarmor.com/law-enforcement/bearcat-variants/
Exactly how many times has a mentally unstable person shot randomly at the general public in Winston Salem?
Ok that's 1. My question was how many. Not being ugly it's a serious question.
I can't think of but 3 or 4 in the last 15 years. And of those i can't think of 1 where it was in a location where an armored vehicle was of any use.
This was my immediate question. How often does a circumstance requiring this type of armor occur?
How many armored vehicles of any type are possessed by law enforcement agencies in Forsyth County?
Militarization of police has been a danger to societies freedom in every country it's happened in. When things get so out of hand where police can no longer handle it, there was supposed to be a local citizen militia. That means local groups of individuals operating to protect their own families, homes, and communities. Sadly our government discourages this, and wants to take our tools away. Yet many people are fine with this, as they are actually fools that believe the police can respond to them in their time of need. Local citizen militia would negate the need for militarization of police. Citizen militia is discouraged and attempts for one to publicly form, would likely see an attempt to label it as domestic terrorist threat. As intended by the founders, local voluntary citizen militias would put some out of a government paycheck from the tax payers, and there is a belief that government could loose it's power and control with equally armed citizens. Thus the reason for discouragement and lack of.
The absolute best deterrent for a crazy shooter is to have good citizens with guns on scene. By the time swat gets there, with all the fancy go to war equipment, in the case of mentally instable shooters as you mentioned, the damage has usually been done and not prevented by swat. The one thing that may could have stopped it, a good citizen with a gun, they are likely prohibited in the area (no gun zone). Regular Patrol officers and armed citizens on the scene are the best deterrent for your scenario, not many instances I can think of where a militarized swat team has had the time to stop a crazed shooter during the initial action.
Gotcha. Luckily not many. I can think of 4 incidents since we have had ours, which is only a few years, where shots were fired or threatened by a subject with a gun. Can also think of one where we utilized a neighboring agencies before we had our own.
Certainly not an every day occurrence but the worth of ours has been proven over and over again.
Just did.
That was 25 years ago. And I still don't see how an armored vehicle would have helped the police. As a matter of fact they didn't have one and were able to apprehend Hayes without any officers being shot.
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