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>The "extraordinary" circumstances used to justify getting this data has a way of expanding over time until it becomes almost any routine reason being justification enough.

One need to look no further than the widespread use of swat teams and no knock raids for mundane purposes, when even 50 years ago most cities didn't even have a swat team.

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That's use it or lose it budgeting for you.

Kind of hard to justify the "APC maintenance" line item if the answer to "how much did you use that thing" is "never" so things like MRAPs and the swat team get used in situations they shouldn't be just to inflate their usefulness on paper.

People wouldn't think the world is so much more dangerous than 50 years ago if we didn't use the SWAT so often. And if people didn't think the world is more dangerous, then those in power wouldn't be able to get away with nearly as much money.

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