• dragontamer@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    No they don’t and Cops shouldn’t have those tools.

    I’d be far more comfortable if in these cases of national emergency, the National Guard showed up with actual heavy weapon experience and training. SWAT is a decent compromise (a few units of specialized / highly trained cops). But we should not make the “typical” cop go down the journey towards warrior / soldier.

    • TheLadyAugust@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      If the typical cop can’t be expected to uphold their duty to protect and serve then they don’t need to be a cop. I do not care if American courts have suddenly decided that the oath and slogan used my police for decades is not binding.

      They don’t need bigger or better weapons, they need brains. They had access to cameras in the building. They knew and could have tracked the gunman using those. Set up around two corners near them, team 1 supresses to distract then team two takes out the gunman. Deploying the national guard would take too long, and not all cities have a swat team.

      If “typical” cops aren’t expected to risk their safety, then I expect them to take a “typical” paycut. Actually maybe that’s what should happen. Separate real police and law enforcement. Real police get firearms and responsibilities, law enforcement can worry about tickets and fines.

      • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The police already cornered the guy by 11:40am. The question was the final breaching operation, which was left to the SWAT team.

        and not all cities have a swat team.

        Uvalde brought in the SWAT team in this instance. The end. They had access to SWAT.

        If “typical” cops aren’t expected to risk their safety, then I expect them to take a “typical” paycut.

        These Uvalde dudes are being paid like $50k/year or some shit. They’d make more as truck drivers than as Police Officers.

        they need brains.

        You’re not getting brains with these wages. Anyone smarter would have left for far better jobs with far lower stress.