paladin2019 wrote:So, you think you might need AP and, due to your peculiar environment, the increased range often enough to warrant a 5.56mm rifle. And the various pistol caliber carbines are too expensive. Ultimately, it's your employers who make that call; if they don't mind AR15s....
Not that I really have a problem with cops having machineguns. As long as they have to jump through the same hoops I do, anyway.
RE: messenger type slingbags, they suck. They suck donkey dick. They never stay where they should when your moving and they invariably find their way between you and whatever you wanted to use as cover. If you want to stay with Maxpedition, check out their
Sitka and
Monsoon for much better implementation. Otherwise, check Tactical Tailor's LE series, particularly
this vest. Or attach stuff to your tactical armor.
This seems to be turning into a debate about what cops should be allowed to carry, and partly an argument about how someone else knows my job better than I do...which is something cops hear almost every day, and I'm over-sensitive to.
1. We carry AR-15s because they have been selected as the weapon of choice, and it meets our /needs/.
2. Nobody in my police department or our multi-agency SWAT team carries fully automatic weapons...they are completely unnecessary. I cannot speak for what other departments do.
3. I am not allowed to wear a tactical vest or tactical armor. I have to throw my concealment vest over top of my shirt and tie. The stuff you seem to be in favor of, is the stuff that our SWAT team wears. I don't like the gearslingers, and they are too large for what I want. The messenger-style bag is what a group of us selected after looking at several options. For our purpose, it does what we need it to. I'm well-aware of the argument that it won't stay in place, but keep in mind that I'm not a SWAT officer. The messenger bag is appropriate for what I'll be doing..we did not select it after just sitting around say, "Hey, this thing would be cool...it's tacti-cool...let's get one." We actually evaluated its features, pros and cons, before selecting it. If it matters to you by now, it has a waist strap that can be worn as a leg strap. I've tested it out, and it stay in place enough for my needs.
I could go into a whole essay about why we are going to use that particular bag, but I don't need to. I did not describe my shooter bag, load-out or why I carry it so that you could debate it with me. This is the "my new toy" thread, not the "Hey guys, I'm wondering if you all with your non-police experience think what I carry is appropriate...if not, then tell me all about what I'm doing wrong so I can learn from you with all your non-police experience, and apply it to my police world," after all. Sorry..that's rather snippy of me.
I don't question what you do for a living and then tell you how to do your job, or that you are doing it all wrong, or that I think you should be carrying some other kind of gear, or that you shouldn't be doing a particular thing...I don't understand what you do every day. You have no clue what I do every day, even though most people /think/ they know cops' jobs better than the cops themselves. It's en vogue these days, and part of our culture, for the public to believe they know more about cop authority, cop daily routine, cop life, cop procedure and law than the cops.
I'm all for police accountability, though. Corrupt or inept cops give the rest of us bad names. People should care what their police are doing and why, but almost everyone's got an opinion based on television, film and the press...hardly accurate representations of what I do. But most people don't give a shit about soldier accountability. But people see the world through non-cop eyes, don't study law & procedure like cops do, aren't trained to be cops and have no idea what it takes to keep serving a public that very much hates you and what you stand for (even though if they really understood, there would be a lot more support for law enforcement, rather than hatred).
It's my fault for getting upset, really. I know that every time I post anything related to my job, I'll start getting critiqued and the opinions start flowing. You may think I just have a fragile ego...not true. I am confident in my reasoning on things. Could I be wrong? Sure, but we all make the best choices with what we have to work with at th time. I read these types of critiques and opinions as coming from an attitude of arrogant, but ignorant, condescension. If they aren't meant that way, I apologize. I almost always overreact to these types of discussions, and I'm very sensitive to them. It's because I've spent a career being on the receiving end of a large portion of the public (not just the criminals) that sees me as the enemy. So when people want to armchair how I do my job, why I do my job, or constantly tell me what's wrong with law enforcement, you're damn right I get offended.
Soldiers experience some of this, and much of our careers overlap. However, as I stated in a previous post, our Rules of Engagement and Standard Operating Procedures are very different. While there is overlap and many similarities, the job is very different.
Someone's going to ask if somebody pissed my corn flakes this morning...it would appear they have. And, at the risk of starting an even bigger argument, I'm click on submit instead of deleting the above rant.
EDIT:
I should add that I do respect folks opinions on a great many things discussed on this site. It's why I asked yours and Ray's opinion about painting my FAL...I have no experience in painting a gun. One of the things I like about discussion forums like this, is that I feel we can often have constructive banter about things, and I can keep touch with non-cop people. Cops have a tendency to isolate themselves from anyone who isn't in the police family. I feel that's very dangerous. But I have to remember to take it easy when I start to feel like folks are attacking my profession...things often feel like that and I get defensive about it.
If you take away their comforts, people are just like any other animal.