[Spidar]

can you point me to where I can read about this?

Obviously this is my opinion. Should I dissect the media/cop dichotomy over the past 20 years? No thanks. I stand fully behind all I've written.

However, by constructing your sentences as such:

“A lot of the time things can be handled much better by all involved.”

You leave yourself an ‘out” when confronted. As in, “that’s not what I said!” Ambiguous nonsense. The obvious inference is that you believe that this coulda (shoulda) been handled better. Maybe I agree. My position on the Taser notwithstanding.

Also, I would recommend that you do some research. In the last 15 years US policing has moved from pseudo-military towards touch-feely. Not the other way around. This again is a direct result of media influence. The obvious correlation is that with crime down and less people experiencing crime (don’t ask for reference, it’s a given) there’s an expectation that people have forgotten what it is to be a victim of crime and subsequently are more apt to believe it doesn’t exist. And because it’s sexier to blame the police for the actions of crooks, the media chooses to provide more coverage to the former.

Also, as far as SWAT teams go, is Columbine and surrounding cities, pop 200k, big enough for a SWAT team? Again, see my thoughts on liability. The uproar over a similar massacre in any town would be led with, “why wasn’t there a SWAT team?!!” Most SWAT teams are part-time meaning they pull patrol officers off the streets to form the team. You’re misinformed.

Finally, Dog Chapmen is a moron and you watch too much TV.