What a cop needs to be concerned about....

I found this article about the expansion of SWAT teams in the US since LAPD pioneered the concept in the late 1960's. If you look through their it raises some legitimate issues of overuse of SWAT. I remember how many people were astonished that the federal Department of Education has a SWAT team. Or that other departments which has little or no legit law enforcement function have them.

One thing did catch my eye.

If you browse online police discussion boards, or chat with younger cops today, you will often encounter some version of the phrase, "Whatever I need to do to get home safe." It is a sentiment that suggests that every interaction with a citizen may be the officer's last...

...Many longtime and retired law-enforcement officers have told me of their worry that the trend toward militarization is too far gone. Those who think there is still a chance at reform tend to embrace the idea of community policing, an approach that depends more on civil society than on brute force.

In this very different view of policing, cops walk beats, interact with citizens and consider themselves part of the neighborhoods they patrol—and therefore have a stake in those communities. It's all about a baton-twirling "Officer Friendly" rather than a Taser-toting RoboCop.

Mr Balko, a cop has more than one thing that is hazardous when he starts the watch, besides the possibility of getting shot. Many a year more cops are killed by auto accidents than pistol shots. However this is not the America of 1950s when a man started a watch, walked around with his baton and ate an apple from the fruit vender. Every time an officer pulls someone over the driver might be armed and not wanting to go back.

Suffice to say, SWAT and the militarization of policing in America will continue to one point or another. I for one would like to see SWAT teams stripped from the Department of Education, among other bureaucracies, as they have nothing to do with legitimate law enforcement. Sorry, DoE may have some issues with student loan fraud but that should be handled by the Department of Justice, either civil or criminal.