I don't dispute that most cops are good cops. Are 95% of them good? Sure. Why not? Maybe 98%? OK.
The problem is, as always, that no majority of good cops is enough to convince all the cops that rolling this heavy is a bad idea. Good cops see the problem but they still vote to neuter any outside oversight. And internal review boards never find enough good cops to effect any change. At all.
It's a problem a cop can't solve, no matter how well intentioned.
It's like the old adage, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link". It literally only takes a handful of bad cops to degrade an entire department.
It's both. After all, there's no point in all that heavy armament if it's not used, so departments have to find ways to justify the "investment"; and sending an APC full of cops in body armor and sporting assault rifles to bust down the door and then ransack the home of some poor schlub with an ounce of grass seems to be one of the preferred methods.
The problem is, as always, that no majority of good cops is enough to convince all the cops that rolling this heavy is a bad idea. Good cops see the problem but they still vote to neuter any outside oversight. And internal review boards never find enough good cops to effect any change. At all.
It's a problem a cop can't solve, no matter how well intentioned.
It's both. After all, there's no point in all that heavy armament if it's not used, so departments have to find ways to justify the "investment"; and sending an APC full of cops in body armor and sporting assault rifles to bust down the door and then ransack the home of some poor schlub with an ounce of grass seems to be one of the preferred methods.
Possibly, but NOT having the AV and all the associated gear might mean less incentive to pull these sorts of "show" raids in the first place.
really?
That sort of extreme use of force over small (or nonexistent) crimes is way too common to be considered a "fuck up".