| "Vastly more civilians are killed by police than vice-versa" Sure, but their job is literally go find the most dangerous people in the country, and make them give up their freedom. Imagine yourself outside the headquarters of a gang of meth cooks, known to be armed and high. Unfortunately, yeah, people get shot. Lets not pretend like these are kind, innocent people. I know sometimes their relatives will say that on tv[1]. Imagine what its like to deal with hardcore criminals on a regular basis. "it's not appropriate in many situations where it's deployed" I agree. The problem is, how do you know in advance? Peaceful protests can turn violent in the blink of an eye. When they do need the gear, they needed it 5 minutes ago. I would love to hear a solution that doesnt involve the police running back to their cars, right at the moment that things get out of hand. "They are a tiny minority of protestors" Agreed. But again, how to know which ones? Now you can see why they want to monitor social media(not taking a position here). If 99 people are saying, "grab a coat and join us for a peaceful protest", and 1 is saying "grab rocks and head the park", well, now maybe we know who to watch. 1. http://wncn.com/2016/11/03/parents-of-pizza-hut-robbery-susp... |