I am still missing the need for SWAT. So these types of criminals where never even attempted to be apprehended before they had SWAT? These no knock warrants gotta go. I understand if you knock they can dump the drugs, but honestly how effective is a drug arrest anyway?
Originally the SWAT concept was to go into special circumstances that the regular patrol officers were either not trained or had the equipment to handle or both. SWAT Teams were (and are in many but now not all departments) part-time, and on-call. Now because of the increasingly militarization of the Police, SWAT Teams are called out for everything from a hostage situation to a miscreant third grader who drew a picture of a gun in art class. This is part of the "shock and awe" philosophy which again has been borrowed from the military.
No knock warrants have their place to give the devil his due BUT should only be initiated when there is intelligence that is virtually beyond any reasonable doubt that the bad guy(s) is/are there with evidence.
Drug arrests are frequently very effective in the sense that many are convicted either in court or by taking a plea. Prisons are full of drug offenders. If you mean, however, how effective is the War on Drugs? Well....that is an entirely different matter and I am not going to go there because I would run out of space to reply.
My sensing is that we are going to see more and more SWAT type responses by what we have always regarded as the regular police or patrol officers. There is a movement afoot to implement active shooter training where first responding officers aggressively engage the threat rather than try to contain it until the SWAT Team arrives. Columbine is usually the baseline incident for this shift in law enforcement philosophy, along with the shootout in North Hollywood (which to me was classic, the threat was contained with suppressive fire until the SWAT Team could deploy).
This of course raises all kinds of questions. I have always been a big fan of the police shotgun as the "heavy artillery" for the average cop for several reasons: short range and less likely to overpenetrate {note I said less likely}, pump shotgun easy to use, and versatility of loads. We have evolved to pistol caliber carbines and now full blown ARs M16/M4 patrol rifles. The latter used to be exclusively SWAT weapons.
Now with BDU/ACU styled duty uniforms, military grade weapons (frequently paid for or supplied by the Federal Govt) all police are becoming more SWAT-like in attitude if not in training. This shift is only going to cause a further rift between the police and the citizens (who are now referred to as "civilians" by cops which is ironic because cops are civilians too) and continue to foster a "them and us" philosophy.
My 2 euros for what their worth (more than dollars I think
![[grin]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/041.gif "Grin [grin]")
Mark L.
