Remember those kids waving Viet Cong flags and saying they were Maoists? They took over. They hated "the pigs" when the police stood for and protected the old America. They wanted to BE the police.
Don't apologize for things you didn't do, to people who don't believe in forgiveness or redemption.
Fort Pierce only paid $2K for this war wagon (US surplus, special deal for state and local police departments; Congress stuck it into the DMAA this year). As to why they might have wanted such a thing: well, the crime rate a few decades back was very high, not to surprising in a 50/50 racial mix city with 30% of the people below the poverty line. It's still quite high even after a substantial decline. There's a lot of concern about gangs.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they wanted it as a (cheap) symbol of their manliness. Look, the head of the SWAT team there is a guy my age who's been with the department since '82. The chief of police is a decade younger; he grew up in the area. I'm just not seeing the connection to the people who were subjected to the police riot in 1968 Chicago.