Their display of force and generally the perception the public has when men dressed as soldiers show up in armored vehicles in their neighborhood and aim big ass guns at them is the root of the problem to begin with.
This is what G-Fist (in his less than succinct way) was trying to say before when this was discussed. When police act like they did here, dress as combat soldiers, and ride around in tank like vehicles with heavy weaponry, it creates an air of intimidation. It also affects their attitude and the way they treat the communities they're supposed to serve. They're not on foreign soil. We're not in a civil war. These people are American citizens. They're not the enemy.
The situation was already volatile enough after the shooting. The only thing they did by showing up with this massive show of force was escalate a situation that was already bad enough.
They hardly need MRAPs, sniper rifles and automatic weapons to deal with bottles and Molotov cocktails.
