"Police stockpile military equipment" (June 17) is yet another story about the militarization of local police, acquiring surplus military vehicles and other war-intended equipment, apparently to be used by SWAT teams, now deployed 50,000 times per year in too-frequent dubious or outright erroneous raids that have resulted in fatalities and casualties involving hundreds of innocent people.

Note to Homeland Security: Since 2001, more civilians were killed by police than by terrorists. Do we really need no-knock home invasions by combat-armed black-masked commandos for ANY justifiable reason other than active shooters or hostage situations?

When SWAT blocked-off my peaceful, conservative Sharonville cul-de-sac a few years ago, surrounding my neighbor's house because of a prank call, it's way too close to home not to speak out. A simple phone call or peeking into his window by local cops would have avoided that dangerous situation. Instead we had cops in place for a Seal Team 6-type raid.

With cameras everywhere, Big Brother NSA mass surveillance, police departments using drones, facial recognition and license plate scanners, tapping cellphones, and the overkill and over-deployed stormtroopers, sobriety and safety "checkpoints," stop and frisk policies, local police departments with armored cars and MP6 machine guns, why does anyone pose the question, "Are we headed toward a police state?" We already live in one. The framework is in place. We just haven't elected our Hitler yet.

Gary Meyer,Sharonville