Still, to doubt police need the tools that they nationally use, and to keep equating their needs with the general population, is willfully misinterpreting/miscasting the situation. Even a locksmith is allowed tools outside what the public is allowed. Are police to be just well-meaning neighbors with no ability to do more than gently admonish? Witness the movie "Demolition Man" when cops of the future (actually more like therapists) were steamrollered by a criminal from the past.