The character profile of an officer shouting "Light 'em up!" and shooting anti-riot ordinance at people on their own porches does not find this an effective recruiting video. Would you like to see their preference? This is 30 seconds of Googling. This is what the American law enforcement mentality thinks is necessary to serve and protect Knott's Berry Farm.

This isn't a money issue. I did an episode of "Jesse James is a Dead Man" with a whole bunch of police officers about a week after Oscar Grant. Asked the guy I was riding with whether you can mix up your taser for your sidearm and the guy was all "no. No way. They're balanced differently, they weigh different amounts, they arm and fire differently, there's no way you can make that mistake." And then he said "But everybody has a bad day every now and then."

Now - there's something in that second recruitment video that selects for people whose bad day can theoretically involve shooting someone in the back by mistake. I don't think it's the fault of the people doing it, I don't think it's the fault of the guys cutting the video. I think it's the fault of a culture that looks at the North Hollywood Shootout and thinks the solution is to escalate the arms race, rather than de-escalate it. I think it's the fault of a budgeting system that allows holes to be patched through civil forfeiture and military surplus. I think it's the fault of turning everything into a "war on..." and cultivating an us v them mentality that exists only in law enforcement, not in firefighting, not in the military, not in the FBI.

I think if you take a bunch of guys, armor and arm them against assault weapons, tell them that anyone around them could be a lawbreaking murderer with a machine gun and let them know that any plunder they get from the baddies goes directly into their coffers

You are not going to attract the violence-averse to a violence-prone job no matter how much money you throw at it. If you would like your police forces to serve and protect all their citizens, you need to shape the job such that servers will do it.

Because right now it's all about the takers.