What part of town do you live in? Police tactics vary widely by neighborhood. The police weren't very nice where I used to live, haha. While you may think that SWAT teams aren't kicking down doors all the time, the number of SWAT raids nationwide has been skyrocketing in recent years.
Queens - and crime has increased quite a bit in the last 5 or so years. I still don't see heavy armored police forces.
Also, raids on who? Random innocent civilians? Or, suspects? And out of those suspects, how many where innocent - not charges were filed and then found innocent - but, actually innocent, as in the cops picked the wrong house and they screwed up.
I chalk those raids up to American's drug appetite. And, we then move into the drug war debate. Which I feel certain drugs should indeed be legalized.
I think police tactics have changed to where these situations are more likely.
So, there is a heavily armed illegal drug lab on the corner of 5th ave and 185th street - do the police show up in pea shooters and segways and if they get shot up THEN armor up? Or, do they show up armored before taking the lab down? Their tactics will come from their preparedness. You can't prepare after the shit hits the fan.
And, this is reality. Drug barons have been heavily arming their people for quite a while now.
No, people want cops to use the appropriate level of force. That's not happening here.
It is very unfortunate when the wrong person is mistreated by overzealous police - I would never doubt/dispute that - but, it will happen. What is the rate of the wrongly arrested and abused truly innocent people? Not charged and found innocent, but, again, the wrong house was raided, etc.