You're looking at the wrong numbers, Mr. mcgrew. Police DEATHS are down because of advances in medical knowledge and technique. I wish I had the exact reference for you but the expert who can fill you in if he's ever teaching in your area is Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman. He's a many-times author, and expert on killing. Which is to say, the psychological effects on the person who does the killing. Some of his books are mandatory reads in the academy. He's also a fantastic lecturer. You need to be looking at the numbers for Aggravated Assault on peace officers. After all, it ain't murder if the doctors (bless em all) can save the life. Then it's attempted murder or agg assault. You might want to be more informed of the broad scope of the topic before you assume I'm a fool. As for the person who called me whiny- that was an if/then scenario I laid out. I totally accept my lot and have forgiven the shooter for the sin committed against me. Whiny? I don't think so. For the Anonymous Coward from the military... thanks for serving. Sadly tone doesn't convey well in the written word. In my career I was only ever scared exactly once, and then I shot the guy who was filling me with lead and tearing my body apart one 5.56mm bullet at a time. I speak of doing things safely, rather than recklessly. And yes, to all the rest of you, I agree that people make stupid decisions and send in SWAT teams when they are definitely not warranted. And the ambulance story above makes my head hurt.

First things first- what does this have to do with technology? Having said that, let's deal with the rest. The answer to why police have become more militaristic is because criminals have become more murderous against cops. I'll be the first to agree that overwhelming force has been used in many inappropriate situations, but cops are humans who want to go home alive at the end of shift. They are tired of being shot at and, simy put, there is safety in numbers. Lest you question my credibility, I'm a medically retired cop (http://www.heroholsters.com/about-our-company.html) who was shot in the line of duty while investigating a massive marijuana grow(I don't want to hear the pro-weed arguments... It's still illegal in ohio). I was alone. We don't have huge SWAT teams here. If we had the numbers and the airplanes (or drones- there argue about that one) the odds are I would have a whole body and still be investigating major crimes. My bottom line is this, until you've put your life on the line on a daily basis, you can't understand why cops or soldiers do what they do. I'm not saying you shouldn't question it, that is the American way, but at least try to get beyond yourself and truly think about it a second. (Posted from my phone, paragraph breaks don't seem to work)

You don't have to be from Europe to see the lies behind the current system of credit in America. The whole thing is designed so that people must have debt in order to beg the banks for more debt. It's absolutely crazy. If we teach our children to save for the things they need (and do so ourselves) we could end this horrible economy for good. Sadly people are too intoxicated by instant gratification (i.e. selfishness) for that to ever happen on a grand scale. What the US needs is a bat-symbol-in-the-sky sized CLUE.