Blaming the police department’s need for used military equipment on 9/11 is a knee-jerk answer. The North Hollywood shootout in 1997 first comes to my mind when 11 police officers and seven civilians were shot and injured. Two men wearing bulletproof armor robbed a bank. Armed to the teeth with guns, they went on a shooting rampage. They had better weaponry than our protectors. Is that how letter writer Mark Voorhest would want it?
Given the bad shape of the economy, it would be rock bottom if bank robbers had this kind of impunity. Who would stand against them? You? Me? Who would stand a better chance? This is a highly published confrontation I use to prove my point. Many more exist.
The police are not always acting in a military fashion, only when needed. They want better for our children and the world to be a better/safer place. They respond accordingly. You never see them hiding their identity unless it’s called for. Watch the news. The bad guys are not going away. The bad guys are not afraid of our police due to the restrictions people like Voorhest would impose on them.
I guess he’d want the police to chase the bad guys down on a unicycle while shooting spitwads through a straw. Yeah, that’d work. “Do police need military gear?” Yes. They need and deserve the best that money can buy. Anything. They need cloaking devices, masks, force fields, bulletproof everything, bigger guns with more firepower, more bullets, better training, more pay, better technology and anything else that could save their life and, most important, mine.
Chuck Torruella
Jacksonville
