If this doesn't worry you...

It should.

....Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communities. North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.



But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.

Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret.


A similar "up-armoring" is occurring all over the country from coast to coast. The usual reasons given are threats of terrorism, the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, and the ever popular 1997 LA Bankrobbery. The federal government is responsible for funding much of this buying spree - via over $34 Billion in federal grants since 2011.
 
I found this quote interesting:
 
The new weaponry and battle gear, they insist, helps save lives in the face of such threats. “I don’t see us as militarizing police; I see us as keeping abreast with society,” former Los Angeles Police chief William Bratton says.
 
“And we are a gun-crazy society.”


So what's my beef with all this? Militarizing a police force can lead to a change of mindset among the force. As well, militarizing a police force isn't a one-time expense. After the federal money is gone, its up to the local and state governments to maintain equipment, provide training, buy ammo, etc. As those costs are considered, there tends to be a feeling that the expense has to be justified. That, together with the change of mindset, can lead to bad things happening:

In one case, dozens of officers in combat-style gear raided a youth rave in Utah as a police helicopter buzzed overhead. An online video shows the battle-ready team wearing masks and brandishing rifles as they holler for the music to be shut off and pin partygoers to the ground.


And Arizona tactical officers this year sprayed the home of ex-Marine Jose Guerena with gunfire as he stood in a hallway with a rifle that he did not fire. He was hit 22 times and died. Police had targeted the man’s older brother in a narcotics-trafficking probe, but nothing illegal was found in the younger Guerena’s home, and no related arrests had been made months after the raid.

In Maryland, officials finally began collecting data on tactical raids after police in 2008 burst into the home of a local mayor and killed his two dogs in a case in which the mayor’s home was used as a dropoff for drug deal. The mayor’s family had nothing to do with criminal activity.