Friendly Neighborhood S.W.A.T

In 2006, the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, released an alarming report about the rise nationwide of paramilitary-style police raids. The full text of the 100+ page report can be read here (by Radley Balko)

For a shorter version, see Paul Craig Roberts' excellent article on this.

Roughly:

• Extreme overuse of SWAT teams (40,000 annual calls in recent years)
• Reliance on unreliable information from snitches resulting in innocent victims
• Focused on the so-called 'war on drugs'
• Tendency to escalate "up" instead of down
• Extremely blurry lines between law enforcement and criminals (see important movie 'The Departed')

I guess all the surplus weapons generated by the MIC need to be used somewhere, so any reason will do. 'War on Drugs' is perfect!