Our county sheriff received an MRAP vehicle from the federal government and then stated in a public forum that the police are not becoming militarized. He also proposed that the police had always been militarized, that in the early days of the country, there were few distinctions of merit between policemen and soldiers; i.e., that they used much the same weaponry and tactics. I of course hold this to be a ridiculous, ludicrous idea.
Furthermore, when you accept federal handouts, it comes with federal strings, if nothing else, it buys your opinion. Not a good thing for a public official to be bought by other branches of government.