As expected, in the aftermath of a man [**planting bombs outside the Dallas Police Department**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/06/man-in-armored-car-opens-fire-plants-explosives-outside-dallas-police-department/) early Saturday morning, the Dallas Police Association is not only calling for more militarized police equipment, but for restricted access to property around the police department.
Especially for videographers.
> The DPA is also calling for DPD leadership to implement new security measures at the police headquarters and all substations across the city. Currently, substation parking lots for officers are open to the public. In recent weeks, an unidentified man was caught videotaping officers in the parking lot of the Northwest substation.
The “unidentified man” that was “caught” legally recording officers, was told by officers that he was on “private property,” when in fact he was on a public street.
As [**reported by PINAC last week**](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/06/dallas-cops-order-videographer-away-from-public-street-leading-to-police-department/), one officer demanded the man’s identification because of “ISIS” and “all the things going on” as more cops began arriving. Of course, like many copwatchers across America who have provided the only hard evidence of police misconduct, the man was merely documenting police activity for YouTube.
As of yet there has been no evidence that James Boulware, the man who planted bombs at the Dallas Police Department, spent any time recording officers in the street in broad daylight before the attack.
The Dallas Police Association also called for additional armored police carriers in its [**press release**](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHaQUBkUMAAAMVj.jpg:large), claiming the two they own now – each costing at least $180,000 and demonstrated in the video below – are no match for the armored vehicle purchased by Boulware on eBay for $8,250, pictured below.
> “The attack on the DPD headquarters was carried out in a bulletproof van, reinforcing the need for police to have access to armored police carriers to respond to such a crisis.”
Whether or not Dallas police need more armored police carriers, the attitude of police and citizens alike that there is a war between police and citizens is leading to many of the brutal encounters cropping up the last few months.
For police officers, even with the recent bomb scare and Houston police shooting, the idea that citizens are on the attack against police is to blow out of proportion the incidents of directed citizen violence against police that are few and far between. Police should not be trained to treat citizens as dangerous terrorists.
For citizens, despite the incidents of aggressive, poorly trained police that are cropping up daily, violence is not the answer. As [**one Missouri town learned**](http://www.kfvs12.com/story/28801129/officers-city-officials-resign-after-new-mayor-elected), the police force can be reformed swiftly and peacefully – by electing a mayor that represents the people. The city council elections and mayoral races that we as Americans have been neglecting – these are the political seats with the power to hire and fire the police.
