[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by bobcat

Equipment: not actually required to be paramilitary but, they are uniformed, given commo and in most cases weapons, and i have yet to meet a cop that isn't wearing some armor.

Their duty uniforms are nothing like military duty uniforms (being designed to stand out and be reassuring), their commo and standard weapons are identical to civilian models (with the exception, in some areas, of magazine capacity), and you can buy the armor yourself. Bank security guards share all these characteristics as well, and no one would call them paramilitary. Standard CIA agents aren't even paramilitary. As long as I don't put on a badge (another non-military item), I can put on everything you just described and while someone might think me odd, they wouldn't think "that guy's a soldier!"

Originally Posted by bobcat

Organization; they have a clearly defined chain of command with a specified line of succession so you don't interrupt the chiefs game of gulf unless you have to.

So does every corporation. Heck, so does every ship that sails the seas. Also, their chain of command tends to be very flat in the field, in part because they do not anticipate losing significant numbers in all but the absolute worst scenario.

Originally Posted by bobcat

Habit: this is more difficult to point at but given that they are expected to be able to think on their feet in the field, they are expected to respect their superiors, they often even get the same haircuts(for many of the same reasons) and given that all of these habits stem from the same sources as their military mirrors. we can check this box as well.

Except for the hair cuts, I think you just described salesmen. The cops I know have varying haircuts - some are distinctly non-military.

If we are talking about habits, though, I do shoot with cops and we've had some interesting discussions about how they have to retrain ex-military to move and shoot like cops and not like soldiers. Different goals, different environments, different expectations.

Originally Posted by bobcat

so yes by your stated standards any Police department that can effectively function is a paramilitary force.

I wholeheartedly disagree. There are certainly exceptions (like SWAT, Border Patrol, and a few others), but standard police live in and are part of the civilian world, not the military.

Now we have certainly seen an increased militarization of the police in the US, but that generally only changes that small part of it designated as SWAT - they simply require too much training to justify for every cop, especially when they are not often required.