What could possibly go wrong?

I ask you, what could possibly go wrong for the cops when they bust into a crowded fast food joint, dressed more like robbers than cops and brandishing rifles?

Undercover police officers stormed a McDonald's restaurant and ordered diners and employees to the ground as they tried to catch a suspected cocaine dealer Thursday.

The Sarasota police officers were dressed in black, carried rifles and wore masks when they ran into the restaurant on the corner of Beneva and Fruitville roads. They burst through the door at dinner time, yelled for patrons to hide under tables and chased a 24-year-old man who hid in a bathroom.

It was a drug sting that went bad because of a milkshake.

Based on their reported behavior, someone could have actually gotten away with shooting the cops in this situation because they were behaving like armed robbers. All of this, just to catch a guy selling $1,000 worth of ecstasy and cocaine. You'd think that they'd finally managed to corner someone guilty of multiple homicides based on the way they behaved here. With behavior like this, is it any wonder why drug raids often get messed up the way that they do, such as the case of Ryan Frederick?

There is a matter of perception that is lost on the people who defend these practices. While the cops may be legally in the clear here, such a legalistic view of how they ought to behave ignores how they will be perceived. The police should be much more cautious because of the image that they gave themselves to the law-abiding citizens who were there at the McDonalds:

"I thought it was a gang," she said. "I mean, they had masks and guns and I never heard anyone say, 'police.' I thought these guys were coming to rob us." [Emphasis mine.]