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Pros And Cons Of Police Militarization Of The Police Force

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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.
If the United States were to militarize the police, it would be an unnecessary expense for a country in so much debt. The U.S. debt is currently at about $18 trillion. There are a few things that the U.S. could cut back on or avoid all together. An example would be SWAT teams. More than 80% of small town police departments …show more content…

There has not been a surge in the number of hostage, sniper, or terrorist situations in America to justify the rise in SWAT teams. Professor Peter Kraska at Eastern Kentucky University found that about 80% of SWAT teams were deployed to respond to police-initiated violence, such as raids searching for drugs, guns, or cash, rather than an unusual threat like a hostage situation (Eichenwald). Police departments are using SWAT teams for tasks that could be accomplished by regular officers and not using them to deal with any unusual threats which are still very infrequent events. Currently about 53% of the discretionary spending portion of the whole U.S. budget, which is roughly $3.8 trillion, goes towards military defense. Military spending makes up for 15% of the U.S.’ total budget (“Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go”). Expenses such as militarizing the police will only rise in the future. Throughout the years, the American Civil Liberties Union found that the value of the military equipment utilized by American law enforcement departments has gone up from 1 million dollars in 1990 to almost 450 million dollars in 2013 ("How America's Police Became So Heavily Armed"). In just 23 years, the price of military grade equipment has gone up …show more content…

When local police departments receive the new military gear, the tendency of them relying on it even in situations that do not have any real threat to the officer or their safety increases. This has been called "the rise of the warrior cop" (Balko). Social psychological research and anecdotal evidence from law enforcement specialists suggest that militarized policing can escalate situations that could have ended peacefully (Singal). There are already a lot of cases of police violence all around the country and not all of the country’s police forces have received military weaponry. There would be more cases like Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, and Ronald Johnson, where it could have ended peacefully with the person in custody. Instead, they are dead and their deaths have fueled riots and protests all across the nation. These events bring with a lot of negative media for police departments and for the ones in charge of them. If officers were to carry more advanced and deadly weaponry, it will lead to more cases as these. This would be due to the "weapons effect" which states that the presence of weapons fuel more aggressive behavior (Singal). By having the local police carrying these heavy duty weapons, they will be more prone to exhibiting aggressive behavior and lead to more cases like the ones previously mentioned. Bruce Bartholow, a social psychologist at the

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