The Power of Gear
Recently, President Trump rolled back limits to a program providing local police agencies with surplus military gear. This was a reversal of an Obama era policy and has drawn praise from the right side of the aisle while drawing equal levels of condemnation from the left.
This subject may seem black or white depending on your point of view, but given proper scrutiny, the subject is murkier than it may appear.
Some citizens may bristle at the thought of the police taking up armored military vehicles or high caliber weapons. This creates an intimidating presence for members of the public, but there are situations that have shown a need for this to exist.
The North Hollywood shootout which took place on February 28th, 1997 is one such example. There were two men who had robbed a bank, and when they attempted to make their escape, they were confronted by the local police who had responded to the alarm.
These men had full body armor, and had high caliber automatic weapons. The police on the other hand did not have nearly the protection the bank robbers did, and only had their pistols as defense. The LAPD ended up being pinned down by the superior firepower and the criminals were able to absorb all of the gunfire from the police, since the officers’ lower caliber pistols could not penetrate their body armor.
The police were helpless as the high caliber automatic weapons tore through their vehicles, which they were unsuccessfully shielded behind. They had to run to a nearby gun shop to borrow weapons so that they would have a chance in a gun battle they were clearly losing.
This incident ended with 12 police officers being injured, along with 8 civilians after nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition were fired. They were able to eliminate the threat, but only after a long chase that put the lives of the public and the officers in extreme danger.
This would be a catalyst for the movement to provide police officers with the resources they needed to match the growing threats that they were facing. They didn’t want to end up in the position of being outgunned and helpless again.
This incident highlights the need for protection from high caliber weapons, as well as the need for the police to have access to equally powerful weapons which could penetrate the armor of determined criminals such as those bank robbers.