I would disagree on money well spent.  I spent a year in combat and taught some of these deputies after I returned from southeast Asia.  They are fine young men for the most part, but I would NEVER want them to have an assault rifle in their hands for policing the community unless the US was under full scale attack by a foreign power.  Community policing should be a civil matter and the cop/civilians need to be retrained to get rid of that 'us versus them' mentality and remember they are part of the community and NOT part of an occupying army to limit individual freedoms. 
We do a disservice to both the police and the community when we arm and train our neighbors to act like an invading army.  That kind of militarism is the way S. Vietnam leaders alienated much of the population and the viet cong became more attractive to villagers than the authoritarians.  Our current leadership is glutted with authoritarian minded bullies.