Police Militarization In The United States

The militarization of the police is becoming more and more prevalent issue in our society. There are positives and negatives to this issue, but in my opinion it is a negative occurrence. Excessive use of force further divides police and community, which eventually may lead to severe consequences that may be irreparable.

In the film, Do Not Resist, Craig Atkinson illustrates the use of military weapons being issued to police; in addition, the differences of “Warrior” and “Guardian” mentalities in law enforcement. A warrior mentality, as described in Atkinson’s film, is referred to the mental tendencies of soldiers, focusing more on protection. Warrior mentality in officers is used to combat extreme situations, like terrorists attacks or hostage situations. On the other hand, guardian mentalities are focused more on serving the community more than protecting. Law enforcement officers have both the warrior and guardian concepts, some officers have more warrior than guardian while others have guardian more than warrior. It is important to understand the difference between the mentalities. To understand we see which communities have higher crime rates than others and see the kind of funds spent on weaponizing police. With those factors one can deduce what law enforcement stations have the ‘warrior’ persona. At what point do we say “enough is enough”, and take away big brother’s toys? As a nation, we’re only strong united. As the great JFK so powerfully said during the Civil War, “United we stand, divided we fall.” Our division of law enforcers, people of color, political affiliation, and other factors will be this society's inevitable downfall. Today’s society’s annihilation is inevitable because we do not have the proper leaders to guide this nation into prosperity.

If you grew up in an average middle-class town in the United States you were probably raised on the premise that the police were there to protect and fight crime, however, in many of today’s urban centers throughout the country, the tension between the police and the citizens has a very different relationship. The term ‘police’ brings many images to mind, while the objective of the police is to prevent and detect crime, this is far from the way so many Americans feel. Far from the original purpose of the police, the use of brutal and sometimes lethal force has evoked questions regarding the skewed system and the relationship between both in the communities. Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the issue in the article, The Paranoid Style of American Policing, often bringing up complex issues, and effectively brings the issues to life through anecdotes. Coates presents a logical, thought out and well-executed argument surrounding the cracked police system in America. Due to the well-supported thesis, the structure of the argument, and lack of fallacies, Coates position is adequately supported through the use

The militarization of the police force would mean supplying them with military grade equipment and having them use military tactics ("Police Militarization"). The United States should not militarize the police force because it is not a necessary expense for a country with a lot of debt, it increases the chance of police violence, a topic that has been in the media a lot recently, and it would lessen citizen's trust in the police.

Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.

Each year citizens die in encounters with law enforcement officers. It is reported that “Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist” (Rucke, 2013). Although there is no official data base tracking these occurrences it is estimated that between 500 and a 1,000 people are killed by police officers each year. To put this in greater perspective this number equals approximately 5,000 since the 9/11 terror attack which is roughly the same number as U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq (Rucke, 2013). This statistic is justifiably concerning. The cause of police related killings are multifold and cannot be attributed to only one factor. Many deaths may be unavoidable and perhaps, dependent on the situation, necessary. I contend, however, that many of these deaths may very well be preventable.

An ongoing question in today's society is,“How can the relationship of the police and communities

In today’s society the police are harassed for supposedly abusing their power against people who commit crimes and innocent bystanders however the general public usually mix those two categories of people with each other. Officers are blamed for whatever course of action they decide to take in order to prevent a serious threat from arising. Consequently, the public is having a growing fear of the police, their own definitions of excessive force are biased, the police abuse their powers, etc. The change in how a police officer may carry out every situation may be a change that we need to protect the people.

The ACLU report examine the excessive force between the citizen and stated highlighted that there has been an “increase militarization of police departments throughout the US since the war on drugs” (Rucke 2014), they also stated that the police new form of militarizing has increasingly treated the American people like they are the enemy of the state. Furthermore, there are other who agree with the militarization of the police. Past events has cause others to believe that there need to be balance between militarizing and community policing.

Police Militarization might seem like a more advanced and a better way to protect us from harm, but it does have some of its flaws. The militarization of the police is counterproductive and can put people’s lives in danger. I oppose the militarization of the police because it can let police can abuse their powers, create more violence, an unfair system, and it can encourage a warfare mindset for the police officers and the people. Civilian police forces seem increasingly imbued with a sense that they’re in urban warfare.

“While the CDC is focusing on how our enemies could attack us, our military is focused on who may attack us, John Linder”. This means that the military job is not just to protect us, but also to prevent horrible things from happening. The only problem many people have is knowing how to balance when to use the military forces and when not to use military forces. The way we will determine when to use the military forces is when war happens, also when a crime is too big for regular cops to handle, terrorist attack, or a threat to national security. Although, those are strong reason to have the military come in but there is reason not to have the military step in and they are matter that common cop can handle, arrangement of peace, and because

In many regards, the focus of “keeping the peace” has taken a backseat to a “warrior” mentality. This mindset emphasizes an “us-versus-them” attitude, where anyone is assumed a threat and officers are told to act aggressively and decisively. It is this change that leads to unnecessary confrontations like much of what has been seen in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri in recent weeks as well as injuries and deaths of many unarmed, nonviolent, and innocent civilians during police “no-knock”

There have been many articles printed out over the years about, “A World Without Police Officer” one of the articles, I would talk about is an article by Mr. Peter Gelderloos. Mr. Gelderloss, stated in his article, “The police are a racist, authoritarian institution that exists to protect the powerful in an unequal system. We don’t want better police. We don’t want to fix the police. On the contrary, we understand that the police work quite well; they simply do not work for us and they never have. We want to get rid of the police entirely, and we want to live in a world where police are not necessary.” (Gelderloos, 2014). Now, I understand where Mr. Gelderloss, get all his angry and ball up emotion from and want to leak out toward law enforcement,

Supplying law enforcement with military-style gear can lead to citizens losing their trust in the police force. While President Obama visited Camden, New Jersey he said in a speech that "we have seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people the feeling like there 's an occupying force- as opposed to a force that 's part of the community that 's protecting them and serving them" (Obama quoted in Johnson). By seeing law enforcement with equipment that is used against an enemy, it creates the image that the public is the enemy. People become defensive in run-ins with the police because of the equipment being used. Not knowing whether or not the officer will see you as a citizen or an enemy causes the public to be hesitant to trust the police. The equipment is an addition to the officer, but sometimes the officer themselves are not the best to begin with. There is a lack of diversity in the police force not just regarding race but also intelligence. When hiring many police departments cap “acceptable” general intelligence test scores. The average points scored on the test is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, which is a little above average (“Courts Ok Barring High IQs for Cops”). They do this in order to “reduce turnover rates, fearing smarter candidates would quickly get bored with day-to-day policing” (Rizer). This also limits the emotional intelligence, “one’s ability to perceive, use, manage and understand their emotions as well as the emotions of those around

In today's society the police, play may roles. They are the peacekeepers, law enforcement and many other jobs. However, recently they have become the subject of a very heated and large debate. Many believe that the police should give up their brute type tactics for a more civilized and humanized approach, while others feel that the police should crack down on the most insignificant of offences to type and disparage crimes that are more serious. In this paper, we will be analyzing both sides of this issue, from the look of the police administration to the public's view of it. When we mention today's police force we will be using the New York City police force as are basis of comparison, because they seem to