SWAT Team - Advantages v Disadvantages

From "Breaking Rank: A Top Cops Expose' of the Dark Side of American Policing"

By Norm Stamper - 34 year police veteran and former chief of the Seattle Police Department

Enjoy!

Nick

A Rational and Objective Examination of the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Police Paramilitary Bureaucracy (PMB)



Advantages

Gives cops a chance to play soldier


Disadvantages

Reduces crime fighting effectiveness
Dampens enthusiasm for risk taking
Distances police from community
Breeds ignorance and arrogance
Discourages imagination and creativity
Slows pace and quality of decision making
Encourages dishonesty
Tolerates sloth
Wastes time and money
Cultivates a culture of deceit
Protects incompetence within the ranks
Creates sinecures within management
Rewards machismo
Winks at abuses of civil liberties
Invites wrong kind of police candidates
Promotes obsequious ass-kissers
Teaches low tolerance of ambiguity
Demands blind, often misplaced loyalties
Supports heavy-handed conduct
Hides mistakes
Accepts Excuses
Institutionalizes mediocrity
Laughs at bigotry
Crushes differences in worldviews
Homogenizes employee diversity
Gags, censures, or exiles internal critics
Creates barrier to effective communication
Undermines officer safety
Sniffs at “family-friendly”employee policy
Fosters corruption
Rejects accountability
Snubs community activists
Stonewalls the media
Ignores excellent performance
Disregards constructive employee advice
Does violence to employee morale
Safeguards the police “code of silence”