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blackkristos t1_iy9945p wrote

Why the fuck does an Augusta cruiser have an AR-15 in the first place?

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MaineJackalope t1_iyd9jq7 wrote

Also every cop car in America has either a shotgun or an AR-15/Surplus M4 in it, I know I asked about the specifics from an Orono PD officer and basically they try to keep the cruisers all having the same available gear, but each officer had to be certified to use the rifle before they would be allowed to use it. Orono is a unicorn of a police department though, not all are as responsible.

As for why police need long arms, when responding to a situation with an armed and dangerous individual, police need to have as much or more lethality as the people they're being called to stop. Pistols are more of a "always available" option in the belt because any call or traffic stop could turn deadly at the drop of a hat, but there's a reason the military doesn't equip infantry with only pistols, they're not actually as good, it's harder to hit your Target with a pistol and there's less "stopping power" to them.

These tools are fine for a typical cop in my opinion if used by someone with two braincells who doesn't jump to bringing out the rifle everytime Becky calls about some dark skinned locksmiths working at her neighbor's door, but we live in a country that is far too protective of shitty officers and promotes a police culture that ousts honest ones.

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2SticksPureRage t1_iy9dnfh wrote

Essentially when you power citizens with high powered weaponry the police also need to have said high power weaponry.

There was a case a long time ago (don’t remember where) of two bank robbers that had high powered guns and when the cops showed up they had to retreat because they basically brought knives to a gun fight. I think they had to go to a nearby gun store to equip themselves with the correct weaponry. I could be wrong with some details though.

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zzorga t1_iya1dk2 wrote

You're thiking of the North Hollywood shootout, the police's inadequacy had nothing to do with the robbers rifles but in the body armor they were wearing. .38s and buckshot have terrible penetration against hard armor.

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2SticksPureRage t1_iycoabx wrote

Thanks for clarifying that. I couldn’t think of the event or where it was to google it myself.

Although I did find this:

“The robbers wore homemade body armor which successfully protected them from handgun rounds and shotgun pellets fired by the responding officers. A law enforcement SWAT team eventually arrived with better weapons, but they had little effect on the heavy body armor used by the two perpetrators. The SWAT team also commandeered an armored car to evacuate the wounded. Several officers additionally equipped themselves with AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles from a nearby firearms dealer.”

I believe firing handguns at body armor was an inadequacy hence why they needed to go get AR15s. They had fully automatic weapons to the officers handguns. I think my point stands.

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