(Cross posted at The Line is Here)
Last night I took my oldest to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Fl. It's your standard carnival - rides, $8 hot dogs, and loads of extremely overweight & slovenly people eating deep fried funnel cakes.
And police. Lots of police. In bullet proof vests and riot gear.
Now, most of the police walking around were your basic white shirt Sheriffs. Of course, their utility belts would make Batman jealous, but I can understand cops being around. Of course, the reason people behave better around a cop is because he or she is armed. The same principle applies to us normal citizens, but that's a different gripe altogether.
What bothered me was that as the Mrs. and I were leaving, a squad of officers practically dressed in riot gear were gathering. They didn't have helmets or shields, but they donned thick boots, BPV's, batons, etc. They were all just sitting around shooting the breeze, so I don't think there was any immediate reason for them to be there.
Is this what we require now from our basic police force? Near military level gear just to keep the peace? We've given our basic police force automatic weapons, permanent SWAT teams, military style training, and have continually allowed the police to violate our basic rights all in the name of perceived security (we're no safer today than we were 50 years ago).
My old man is a cop. I respect the job and understand that cops will do what they're allowed to do just like any human will take advantage of their situation. The problem is that we're slowly (and that's arguable) devolving into a police state where those who are hired to protect and serve are instead becoming soldiers where the people themselves are the enemy to be conquered.
Part of the reasoning for the Second Amendment is dead. There is no external army that is going to step in and take over the U.S. ala Red Dawn where the average citizen being armed is going to help. But the ever increasing threat of a tyranny is valid and it starts with the local constabulary.
I believe in providing our peace officers with the training and equipment they need. Unfortunately, a lot of people believe that if the bad guys have AK-47 clones then that means the cops have to have something more powerful, and this isn't the case. If someone pulls a Desert Eagle .50AE on me, my 10mm isn't going to not work because of the disparity. The same goes for our police. Give them the right tools, but nothing more.
What I fear the most though right now isn't the police I saw in riot gear, it was the hundreds of domesticated sheep people walking by them that didn't see anything wrong at all. When you become used to the police walking around like military, you forget that it's a bad thing.