Police: Armored vehicles are important tool

Re: “Heavy armor fits JBLM, not small towns,” (TNT editorial, 6/29).

As a retired public safety officer (32 years, in both law enforcement and the fire service), I am an advocate of police officers having armored vehicles available to use if necessary. Not patrolling in one every day, but when confronted with heavily armed subjects intent on killing officers.

There are estimated to be many millions of so-called assault weapons in this country, all capable of inflicting rapid, repeated, deadly gunfire. Police today are confronted much too often with such weaponry. It doesn’t have to be a mass shooting, but can be something such as a bank or liquor store robbery, or a domestic dispute.

When facing massive, military-style firepower, police officers need a way to shelter from high-powered bullets while attempting to bring a calamitous incident to an end without officers being wounded and killed. It’s the times we live in, and the TNT editors need to understand that.

Cops are human beings who would like to go home alive at the end their shifts. To deny them the tools (and yes, armored vehicles are tools) to do the job as safely as possible is misguided and flat wrong.

This story was originally published July 5, 2016 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Police: Armored vehicles are important tool."