Without the machine guns and bloody hands, they wouldn't look like cops to me....

[Catherine Vincent]

[tekisui]

1. I think its henna on the hands,

but no, they don't look like cops.

[Chulanowa]

2. Well, that's because...

In America cops wear plate armor and cover their faces for maximum intimidation factor

[Sal Minella]

6. ...and minimum identification potential in amateur video clips.

[Caliman73]

10. Brother-in-law is a cop.

He wears standard torso armor, but no one in his department wears tactical armor and face gear unless SWAT is active. Same in the town where I live. Have never seen police in full battle gear and face cover. Intimidation would be a side effect more than primary motivation. What I have been told by LAPD officers is that they wear balaclavas when responding to gang or drug interdiction so that they are not identified for retaliation by gangsters and cartels on them or their families.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

13. Oh, you betcha they will get their balaclavas out during a peaceful anti-war-bush gathering.

[Chulanowa]

19. Retaliation like lawsuits?

Sorry, I'm sure your Brother in Law is a great guy. But police, in general, are shits.

[TheWraith]

3. Looks like she's got something painted or tattooed on her hands.

Interesting. But is there some added context to this? Or is it just that the Pakistani police can make even a pale blue headscarf look badass?

[slampoet]

4. if you can't recognise Henna when you see it you really don't know shit about the Mid East

[Catherine Vincent]

8. I never claim to know a lot about the Middle East.

Sorry for the mistake, at first glance it looked like blood.

[slampoet]

11. So you are admitting you don't know what a cop in the Mid East looks like either.

Are you aware WHY they might need separate female cops?

[Catherine Vincent]

18. No, I don't and nor do I care.

I just thought it was a cool pic to post. Chill the fuck out.

[Greyhound]

5. Notice that every one has her finger on the trigger?

Big no, no. Just begging for tragedy.

Is this Pakistan?

[seemunkee]

7. Looks like only the one in front does to me

[MercutioATC]

9. Correct. The rest are practicing proper trigger dicipline.

I wonder why the least-trained person was put in the lead position.

[bertman]

12. Technically, they're assault rifles, not machine guns. Cool pic, though.

[Caliman73]

14. Those are H&K MP5s, technically considered a submachine gun

MP is short for Maschinenpistole in German. It is shorter than rifle length and fires a pistol caliber (9mm) round. The choice of a good majority of police forces for bringing firepower without lugging around rifles.

[bertman]

16. Thanks for the enlightenment. I was going to ask why it's not called a machine-pistol

(even if the Germans call it that) but judging from the size of it I can see why.

[SteveM]

17. And they are certainly not "assault weapons." (nt)

[benEzra]

20. An assault rifle is technically a machinegun firing a reduced-power rifle cartridge

and capable of being switched between firing modes at the push of a switch ("selective fire" in firearms jargon). MP5's are not assault rifles because although they are selective-fire machineguns, they fire pistol cartridges, not rifle cartridges.

A submachinegun is a machinegun that fires pistol cartridges, FYI.

("Assault rifle" shouldn't be confused with "assault weapon," either, which is a non-automatic civilian rifle or shotgun with modern styling.)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Blue and black uniforms, badges, guns...

:shrug: