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Comment by bigbubba | Hacker News Reader

I think the biggest problem with these vehicles is the aesthetics and the mindset they attract. But in this regard, those armoured vehicles are only a small part of the problem. Their dark uniforms should be replaced with light uniforms. Replace black and dark blue uniforms with baby blue, white or 'day-glo' neons. Do the same to their guns (white plastic 'furniture' where possible), cars, and armoured vehicles. It doesn't particularly bother me that they own armored vehicles (given the armed nature of the American public), but those vehicles should be repainted to look uncool to the sort of person who fetishizes military hardware and edgy 'punisher'/'tacticool' aesthetics.

Basically, make the cops look less like the US Marines and more like UN peacekeepers (specifically their white vehicles.)

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In other words, you want more WA State Patrol (white cars, light blue uniforms) than Seattle PD (navy blue for both), it seems. Though I recall the move to the navy blue uniforms in Seattle was for cost reasons - their old baby blue uniforms were custom, so they cost more.

Yes basically, though I would like to see these sort of aesthetic changes across the board, not just to uniforms. The uniforms and the rest of their equipment should convey peaceful professionalism, not macho militarism.

Some of the black on the metal hardware comes from coatings to prevent rust and other corrosion, not to look cool. Custom colored coatings (cerakote I guess if you want light blue) would be much more expensive. It’s not just simply painted black. The other hardware that is painted is done for camouflage, and I’m betting the vehicles were sand colored when they got them as a black APC is gonna stand out real well in the desert.

I'm aware that black metal components often have a protective black oxide layer. In another post in this thread I mention that the plastic 'furniture' could be made white at least. And in common police firearms, namely glocks, that's most of the gun that could be recovered. I don't think the Glock company offers such guns presently, but if there were widespread police aesthetic reforms I don't think supply would necessarily be a problem.

As for camouflage, I think police should be forbidden from using it. If a bank robber needs to be ambushed from the bushes in some sort of 'Bonnie and Clyde' scenario, let the beat police call in specialists. These armoured vehicles don't need camo in the likely scenarios in which they'd ever be used, particularly since the entire premise of such vehicles in a police role is that they'd be impervious to the small arm fire they might encounter. In a military role they might get hit by an RPG, but such anti-armour weapons are exceedingly unlikely to be relevant to police.

I’m still failing to see how this will solve anything, as you’ve yet to explain why you’re scared of the color black. GLOCKS come in a few different colors of frames, but not white and the frames are made from nylon, not plastic, and you’ve still increased the cost of manufacture because of fear of a color.

SWAT teams need camouflage so they can park vehicles and stage raids at night or early dawn without announcing their presence.

Why did you decide all cops are bad and start a war against them?

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