Now, they greet him and start a conversation.
"It takes a lot longer to walk down the halls," said Satterberg, the elected prosecutor in Seattle's King County.
The friendlier attitude reflects a campaign underway here and elsewhere around the U.S. to "demilitarize" the police and produce officers who think of themselves as guardians of their communities, not members of an occupying force.
Calls for demilitarizing law enforcement began a few years ago but gained urgency after the violent protests over the shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last summer.
The philosophy was endorsed this week by President Barack Obama's 21st Century Policing task force. As part of that change in thinking, Obama curtailed the government's practice of supplying armored vehicles, heavy weapons and other military-style equipment to police departments.
But it isn't just about the gear.
[For more of this story, written by Gene Johnson, go to http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS...ce-training-31232825]
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