Bob, I'll stand up and back you on this one. I think what Sharon PD did was legit and you're right on the mark. I'm on the fire dept side but I've been taking quite a lot of terrorism courses as of late and I agree that they had better be prepared.
The town of Sharon, MA has a huge terrorism problem I take it? The cops don't need to be loaded for bear to be prepared for a violent incident. They can keep their rifles in their cruiser. We don't live in a country where public gatherings are accompanied by rows of armed riot police.
A small town cop walking around with an AR doesn't prevent terrorism.