I've always been fascinated by and generally in favor of this part of Hunter S. Thompson's platform when he ran for Sheriff:
"The Sheriff and his Deputies should never be armed in public. Every urban riot, shoot-out and blood-bath (involving guns) in recent memory has been set off by some trigger-happy cop in a fear frenzy . . . Under normal circumstances a pistol-grip Mace-bomb, such as the MK-V made by Gen. Ordnance, is more than enough to quickly wilt any violence-problem that is likely to emerge . . . And
anything the MK-V can't handle would require reinforcements anyway . . . in which case the response would be geared at all times to Massive Retaliation: a brutal attack with guns, bombs, pepper-foggers, wolverines and all other weapons deemed necessary to restore the civic peace. The whole notion of disarming the police is to *lower* the level of violence--while guaranteeing, at the same time, a terrible punishment to anyone stupid enough to attempt violence on an un-armed cop."
townhall.com
that little 
