The United States of Fear - Part 2

Okay, the world has always been a dangerous place. Bad people exist. Good people do bad things. But, do our police forces have to be as well-armed as our military? Does it say something about us that many of the police forces that have broken up Occupy sites do not look like police, they look like soldiers? 

Do our police forces need $300,000 pilotless surveillance drones, $180,000 bomb robot, $400 ballistic helmets, $1,500 tactical vests, a 54-foot, remote-controlled “crime-fighting blimp” with a powerful surveillance camera affixed to its belly and a plenitude of additional weapons?  We've spent billions buying this equipment and still more training police to use it. How worthwhile an investment has this been when violent crime has been on a downswing since the 1990s?