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America’s New Battleground

My topic for my research paper was police militarization. I chose to argue that
police militarization was unneeded and threatened society. I chose to write this
because it was something that interested me.
Over the last fifteen years America’s police forces have changed, for the worst.

Policing has now completely changed, the friendly neighborhood officer doesn’t seem to

exist anymore. Police militarization has changed the way departments operate and

even the way officers behave. It is a much more hostile environment where police are

using battlefield weaponry and tactics against the people they are supposed to protect.

Police militarization is unneeded and in most situations it does more harm than help

anything.

Police militarization has been happening in this country for over a decade. It

really became noticeable after 9/11. Police militarization is using battlefield weapons

and tactics being used by police departments. Over the last ten years militarized police

have been seen all over the place. From New York with the Occupy Movement to

Ferguson and around the country with the Michael Brown shooting. Police all over the

country are now being equipped with military grade weapons. How are police acquiring

military weapons? The military has a surplus of military weapons and other gear that

are most likely not going to be used. Instead of just letting them sit there and collect

dust, the pentagon decided it would be a better idea to give the equipment to local

police departments. This program is now called The 1033 Program.(Greenwald) Over

eight thousand police departments have joined the program (Reese 1). Most towns that

receive military equipment don’t especially need it.(Reese) Police departments are then

introduced to the same defense contractors that the military uses setting up future
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relationship between the two. Some of this military equipment that departments receive

is even to advanced for the average officer.(Topaz) Most importantly, this equipment is

made to be used against heavily armed or dangerous individuals, but most of the time

we see this equipment used against unarmed groups of people.

Police Militarization has become a controversial topic of debate. Militarized

police pose a threat to the community, civilians, and even themselves. A report

published by the ACLU stated “ Excessive militarism in policing, particularly through the

use of paramilitary policing teams, escalates the risk of violence, threatens individual

liberties, and unfairly impacts people of color.”(Greenwald) When a crowd of peaceful

protestors are met by officers with rifles and dressed in camouflage it will never help the

situation. Crowds that are using their constitutional right to assemble should not be

treated like enemies of the police officers. Instead police officers should try to make the

safest environment possible for protesters and other members of the public. It’s hard to

be a peacekeeper when you are toting a rifle while telling protesters to “ bring it, all you

fucking animals”.

The way a police officer acts and views his job has completely changed. Instead

of being a guardian for the community they are now a warrior viewing the community as

a battlefield. When Departments are introduced to military tactics and that sort of

behavior is accepted it can quickly spread throughout the department.(Eichenwald)

There are endless accounts of police brutality and officers stripping civilians of their

rights. The mindset of officers has changed to a much more aggressive stance towards

the public.
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The most dangerous thing about the way officers are policing is that it leads to

police departments losing the public's trust. Police departments in the past have

worked side by side with the community, but now departments have cut ties to the

community. Eric Holder stated “ We must seek to rebuild trust between law

enforcement and the local community. The deployment of military equipment and

vehicles send a conflicting message.”(Topaz)

Policing should be done side by side with the community. This helps

departments gain vital relationships with the people that they are supposed to protect.

Militarized police have a negative effect on large groups of people. When groups

of people feel as if they are being treated unfairly they will act in a negative way.

However, when law enforcement shows groups respect and treats them in a just way

the peace will be kept and there is a lower chance for a riot like scenario.(Eichenwald)

Militarized police are a contributing factor to why we have seen so many riots and police

against protester clashes in recent years.

Over the last ten years militarization has grown rapidly, thus we have seen the

militarized police in action. New York and Chicago are common areas where police

militarization has been used fairly often. Ferguson, and the rest of St. Louis County, is

fairly new to seeing this kind of weaponry and tactics. Ferguson also was the site large

rioting. After Michael Brown was shot many people took to the streets. At first, the

protesting was nonviolent, but as more police officers in camouflage with rifles showed

up the situation only worsened. The combination of high tension in the community and

police instigation was a mixture for disaster. Ferguson was a war zone with St. Louis

County Police Department proving to be an embarrassment to good cops all over the
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country. It was time for change, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon decided to appoint a new

leader to try and de escalate the situation. That new leader was Captain Johnson of the

Missouri Highway Patrol. He brought new tactics and ideas to help fix this out of control

situation. At the top of his list was demilitarizing the police in the area. He comforted the

residents of Ferguson telling them that he promised nobody would be harmed while

protesting. That night protests went on with little police force and was one of the first

peaceful nights in a long while. Johnson worked alongside with the community to

ensure peace instead of arming his police officers to scare and threaten protesters.

Police in some situations do need extra protection and weaponry in some

situations. High risk situations like, terrorist attacks, hostage situations, and any other

incident where heavy weaponry is involved. The truth is these instances are very rare

and most of the time the military equipment is used for more low risk situations where

the equipment is not necessary. This is why we see heavily armed police officers

confronting unarmed groups of people. All over the country paramilitary units have

increased by 1,400 percent since 1970. These units were created for high risk

situations. You would think that since the number of paramilitary has increased so

dramatically that the number of high risk situations where they are needed must have

rose also. Sadly, that is not the case for the most part high risk situations have not

increased.(Eichenwald) Most areas that have SWAT teams rarely or never use them.

SWAT teams also have a long history of failed raids. These raids include injuring or

even killing innocent people. There has also been accounts of SWAT teams raiding the

wrong house. 275 failed raids have been recorded since 2007, fifty four percent being

minorities.
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Militarized police present an ignorance and lack of problem solving skills. It’s sad

that our best way to deal with large groups of innocent people utilizing their first

amendment rights is to scare or threaten them with military weapons. It is hard to keep

peace when you represent the face of war. “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you

treat everything as a nail.”(Reese)

Works Cited

Greenwald, Glenn. "The Militarization of U.S. Police: Finally Dragged Into the Light

by the Horrors of Ferguson - The Intercept." The Intercept The Militarization of US

Police Finally Dragged Into the Light by the Horrors of Ferguson Comments. The

Intecept, 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.

Reese, Frederick. "Who Benefits From Police Militarization? (INFO-GRAPHIC)."

MintPress News. N.p., 22 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

Topaz, Jonathon. "Critics Slam 'militarization' of Police." POLITICO. N.p., 14 Aug.

2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

Eichenwald, Kurt. "Why Militarized Police Departments Don't Work." Newsweek.

Newsweek, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.