Saw a headline recently on Drudge about citizen's concerns of the "militarization" of local police forces. Didn't get a chance to read it, but understood the concern.
I think it was forum member Tom in TN who a couple of months ago commented that in his little section of the world one would hardly even recognize the local police as such because of all the high powered weapons, riot-gear, helments, and other crap they wear around town.
He said the locals just laugh at them, but the problem really isn't a laughing matter. What good is a SWAT team if you don't bust some doors down and bust some heads open? Yeah, some doors need bustin' down and some heads need a good bustin', but I bet with 10 minutes on the internet one could find a dozen stories of local police forces using excessive force or using the same force against innocent citizens because they were so eager to make a bust.