Why no charges? I suspect it's politics as usual. The DA and the police are on the same team; further, no DA wants to be seen as soft on crime or hard on the police. Then too, there's the internal culture of the police dept. One local county which I will not name has had a racist and trigger-happy reputation for the forty years I've lived in the area. Despite the occasional investigation (FBI was involved, more than once if I recall correctly) nothing really changes. The Chief gets swapped out every so often, but it's difficult to impossible to weed out the folks who shouldn't be carrying anything more lethal than their bare hands. I imagine it must be very frustrating for the honorable and responsible LEOs, to be tarred with the same brush, so to speak.
On the plus side, the local Va dept mentioned in my earlier post is studying alternatives to having SWAT teams serving warrants on non-violent offenders.
I don't think they're looking into why it was thought necessary in the first place. Of course, when you have a weapon available, the tendency is to use it. The availablility of funding from Homeland Security (am I the only one who finds that title a bit disturbing?) has contributed to the development of a lot of para-military equipment and capability in local police departments; possibly a lot more than is needed.
On the plus side, the local Va dept mentioned in my earlier post is studying alternatives to having SWAT teams serving warrants on non-violent offenders.
I don't think they're looking into why it was thought necessary in the first place. Of course, when you have a weapon available, the tendency is to use it. The availablility of funding from Homeland Security (am I the only one who finds that title a bit disturbing?) has contributed to the development of a lot of para-military equipment and capability in local police departments; possibly a lot more than is needed.