The Police Band

I had to read this short story a few times, and after all of that re-reading, I'm still not sure what I think of it is what the author was really going for.
My perspective on this "Police Band" is the writer realized how influential the music of the 1960s was over the population. He also acknowledged that police officers were seen as the bad guys against the counter cultural movement that had music at its core.
I think it's rather humorous that Barthelme would think of a police unit being a band to calm and inspire rowdy or frightened crowds of people. One gets the image of SWAT units, hostage negotiating teams, riot units... but nothing that would positively calm the situation in such a way that the people were receptive to.
I wonder why Barthelme had the members of this band undercover as mail carriers and then to say something about how the narrator couldn't understand the black members not wanting to do that forever.
All in all this was a rather interesting piece to read but interesting in the fact that it promotes how music had an effect over large groups of people. It can make them happy and compliant.