When did cops start being an army?

it is me

and donuts

Citicop

You show me some shred of evidence of a police department in the United States having or using a Frag Grenade, and I'll give you some credibility.

They need some of those other things because some serious criminals simply don't want to give up because they ask nicely.

What would you suggest they do?

Bear

After all the firepower that is on the street these days, cops need to be able to protect themselves and others. A perfect example is the North Hollywood bank robbery shootout. That incident proved to law enforcement to start getting better weapons.

lordkelvin

You haven't seen what some of those gangs have for weapons, have you?... or drug dealers... some of them are better equipped than the military of some countries.... So you have a problem with being protected from scumbag law breakers?

California Street Cop

Ummm....are you serious? Did you just wake up from a coma you've been in since the 1950s?

You cannot bring a revolver to a machine gun fight.

brucec83

Chicago police got tommy-guns in the 1930s. They needed them to combat the gangsters who had them.

just me

They need all these things because ( in case you haven't been paying attention) the people they deal with have these kind of weapons.

amish_renegade

Well judging by the terms you've used you don't know a lot about firearms, also you watch a lot of tv.

There is really no such thing as a sniper rifle (that's more of a media made term). And the reason for having a rifle capable of hitting a target at a long distance is handy when you can't approach a subject and somebody is in danger. They usually use a bolt action rifle with a scope.

Cops have never had machine guns.

As for assault rifles, SWAT teams are the only ones that may use them. They use them with SMGs but this is because they are usually entering a building in special situations. Regular cops don't get assault rifles, they get semi-auto rifles.

And the only types of grenades they get is flashbangs and tear gas canisters. SWAT is usually the ones that get these.

TxTopCop

We have them because the bad guys do... fire with fire, if you will.
Two examples the past few years... the LA Bank Robbery Shootout and the Dallas/Plano Bank robbery... the 'bad guys' had us out gunned... with machine guns, etc...
I carry an AR15 fully loaded in my car.... just in case..

JAG

Me as well as other officers have been issued AR-15 rifles. (The officers who have them have to qualify on the shooting range to have the weapon.)

With all the mall shootings, school shootings, and increased gang violence that has been occurring, it is absolutely necessary to have patrol rifles. In my city, there were (3) officer involved shootings in one week. There were (4) home invasion robberies in one week as well. (The suspects in the robberies were all armed, and shooting at police.)

If an officer or any person for that matter, knows they are going into a gun fight against a desperate, and armed suspect, you don't just want a pistol to match their firepower, you want to go in exceeding it. It's for the officers safety as much as it is a necessity to ensure the safety of the public.

Also, I'm sure people have seen officer involved shootings that had like 100+ rounds fired. And it was probably with pistols. If an officer is being shot at by a suspect when he has his patrol rifle, i can almost guarantee there wont be that many shots fired. They are far more accurate at long range, and easier to steady in a high stress situation.

As the world and society become violent, officers have to keep up with the times in order to be an effective police force. 2007 was one of the deadliest years for police officers in a long time.

There was a time when deputies didn't have to wear guns to police their towns, and there was a time when officers didn't have to have semi automatic weapons and bullet proof vests. Those times are long gone.

eddie f13

because the bad guys have assault rifles and auto weapons

Rico Goldstar

Because if you were paying attention to the media, it is an urban war out there, and it's only getting worse. I guess you don't remember the Hollywood Bank of America Bank robbery shoot out a few years ago. The standard police firearms were insufficient to stop the bank robbers who were in full body armor. Their shots didn't even slow these guys down. The police were so outgunned that they actually had to run to a local gun and ammo shop to get better weapons. They had to wait until special teams and the snipers got to the scene in order to put an end to the bank robbers shooting rampage. That's just one example. Do I even have to bring up Columbine, Va. Tech, or the most recent shootings in a Nebraska shopping mall? Watch these videos and read this article and then ask that question again.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/101020/hollywood_bank_of_america_robbery/

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN0564256720071205

Spoken Majority

because the scum we arrest have machine guns, assault rifles and hand grenades.

Gumby

When the criminals started arming themselves like terrorists. Still, I don't know any departments with a machine gun. M16's...YES, Shotguns...Yes,...Sniper Rifles...Yes. Machine Guns...I'd need to see it to believe it.

g henry

Our hardworking dedicated men and women who chose to protect and serve the rest of us deserve any and every means possible to protect themselves and fight crime. They need more not less. Support your local Sheriff's and Peace Officer's associations. They need the additional funds to purchase the things they need. Thank you to all our Law enforcement Officer's and God bless you. The sheep never like the sheepdog.

mebe1042

Much has already been covered on the "Why". Historically, the Crinimals have been better armed that the Police. Go back to the 20's when Gansters had Browning rifles, Thompson SMG's and the Colt .45ACP. The average Officer had a .38cal revolver and .12ga shotgun if he was lucky. It took years and a lot of dead Police Officers before Police were able to arm themselves with similar weapons.

But Specialized units such as SWAT do have sniper rifles. They do have automatic weapons. These are "Sub-Machine guns" NOT to be confused with(which is happening here) "Machine guns". Normal machine guns are a larger weapon, larger caliber and mounted on a vehicle or tripod. And the only "Grenades" are less-than-lethal CS(Tear gas), Rubber pellets and Distraction/Disorientation(Flashbangs).

The normal patrol rifle that a Police Officer has is semi-automatic carbine(shorter version of the longer rifle). And is more or less taking the place of the shotgun because of the advantage of range, precision and because of the ammunition used, has a lower chance of going through something and hitting an innocent person.

lpdhcdh

We became an army when the criminals declared war on the community.

Are you confusing flash bangs with frag-grenades or just a liar?

Jack Flanders

I think cops went over to Machine Guns for SWAT when the street conversions of the MAC-10 started coming out. This was a semi auto version of the Ingram Military Armaments Corporation (MAC) Model Ten. This gun was smaller than an UZI, and fired at the incredibly high rate of 1100 rounds per minute. Most hand held submachine guns fire at about half that speed. The gun was cheap to buy and easy to convert to full auto and was exetensively used by gang members, particularly in Los Angeles and Miami.

To the person above who said cops don't have machine guns, you are wrong. I have been at the Angeles Crest Shooting Range in Los Angeles. Once, a week, half the range is rented by the LAPD. (The range is huge.) While I was there, the LAPD was flying overhead in a helicopter, and shooting a machine gun at a junk car placed on the 300 yard line. The shell casings from the machine gun hit the porch cover sun roof type thing and I was able to recover some of the shell casings which were 9mm.

Also, at the North Hollywood bank shootout, Romainian bank robbers robbed a bank with Kalashnikovs and multiple layers of body armor covering their entire bodies. Most of the world saw (and cheered) the LAPD Swat guy emptying his Heckler & Koch 9mm at full auto into the bad guy.

If you think police don't use explosives when it suits their purpose, I would like to point out the long time use of dynamite for "revenuers" to blow up illegal moonshine stills. Also, reserarch how Chief Willy Williams of the Philadephia Police handled the MOVE terrrorists. I will give you a hint, an entire city block was burned down. I am not joking.

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