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President Donald Trump's order reviving a Pentagon program making certain military equipment available to local-level police departments is controversial.
That's understandable.
However, for the most part, police having access to such powerful gear wasn't a matter of contention -- indeed, most Americans weren't even aware of the availability -- until President Barack Obama curtailed the offerings in 2015 after several police killings of black men in Missouri and other states.
The equipment in question includes high-caliber weapons and, even, items such as grenade launchers.
In reviving the program, Trump maintains that the beefed-up access is needed to protect public safety and the safety of state and local police.
With the ever-increasing threat of terrorist acts and other potentially serious, large-scale incidents putting law enforcement officers' lives and well-being at risk -- as well as the lives and well-being of the general public -- having well-equipped police makes sense.
But now, with the program having been revived, police departments have the responsibility to ensure that all members of their departments have proper training regarding the equipment's use -- not only the proper handling of it, but when deploying it is acceptable.
Civil rights groups have the right to be concerned about the potential ramifications, now that the program has been reinstated. However, the presence of the equipment alone shouldn't exacerbate fears about potential police brutality or overreactions.
Police departments operate on the principles of protecting and serving, not being intimidators or enemies -- although it must be acknowledged that police have not always acted within the boundaries of those guiding principles.
Meanwhile, considering some situations that have erupted in this country in the past, the national Fraternal Order of Police cannot be faulted for welcoming the president's order as an opportunity to keep police and communities safer.
Equipping police so they can adequately respond to what is an ever-growing menu of dangerous challenges is part of the recipe essential for trying to keep the nation safe for law-abiding citizens and their property.
And, as this issue demonstrates, there always will be people who will agree with a change while others will disagree.
The challenge is to try to alleviate the fears of both sides.
Of importance now is that the revived availability of military-style gear not be a basis for unrest that has no justification.
It never should be necessary to use the equipment in question but, if and when it is deployed, the decision to do so must be rooted in absolute necessity.
Good intentions were the bases for both presidents' actions, and demonizing either president over the decision he made is both unnecessary and counterproductive.
There's in fact no need for communities to give much thought to Trump's order in the course of everyday, law-abiding living.
However, the day might come when having the equipment available might be the difference between gaining control over a large-scale situation having the possibility for many injuries and fatalities -- such as a terrorist incident -- or enabling it to grow into a bigger, more-complex problem.
The bottom line is that Trump's order will add to the responsibility of police departments as well as to their equipment rooms.