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
-Millions of dollars would need to be invested into setting up the new police service. (for things such as uniforms, upgrading
Would a national police force working in the United States of America. Yes, a national police force would work in the United States, just in all the other countries that have been doing it for years the thought is possible. However, I think the question should be would the American People benefit from a one agency police force lead by the government to service and protect them. Which would mean that all fifty states would have to changes all their state laws to read a one. Then do not forget about the city ordinance that municipality have to contend with and inforce, all that would be gone.
Undoubtedly the thought of a National Police Force in the U.S. seems somewhat intimidating and not something American society would willingly accept, but, in reviewing countries such as England, France, Germany, and Israel, there appear to be some advantages to such a centralized force. While we appreciate the freedom of localized law enforcement whether police, sheriff or otherwise, the lack of a consistent standardized operating procedure for all agencies creates issues in the implementation/administering of the law as seen in recent months. While it would seem the cons of a national police force would outweigh that of the pros, it is worth taking into consideration when we look at those countries that have implemented such systems and have
I have see, done and read about many different types of policing. It would be nice if just one type was all that was needed. As with many things in history, we have a tendency to rename it and try it again. For example, Beat Patrol vs Community Policing, Hot Spot Saturation vs Targeted Patrol, Strict Enforcement vs. Zero Tolerance and so on.
This argument is based on several assumptions that, while plausable, are not certain. The fisrt assumption is that investing in more police officers and altering the deployment process will result in increased visibility. While this is logical, it is not certain. An increased investment in staffing
Many people contrast with the idea since they think it will remove the human element from policing. However, there are a lot of people also support the idea. Police Department should not be allowed to carry police robot with any lethal weapons because robots also have weaknesses, it can only be used by military forces in the battlefield, and also because even a person who killed five police officers deserves due process. There are at least three main reasons that police robot should not be allowed to carry lethal weapons. Firstly, robots also have weaknesses.
As a whole, the United States has a larger problem than simply the police. 80 billion dollars a year of American taxes go toward funding the prison complex, used by the wealthy elite to control the deprived in the dark, maintaining a divided population. This seems eerily similar to the early days of slavery, and this 3-tiered caste system still looms over society. Due to a poorly structured education system, black students are more than twice as likely to be suspended from school than white students, and only half of black Americans graduate from high school, while 75% of white Americans get to walk on graduation day. Consequently, black males are twice as likely to be unemployed as white males after high school. Of course there are exceptions across the nation, but this trend proves to show that as a whole, the entire structure of our
I think the multiple layers of police agencies within the United States benefits and provides better outcome for the community as a whole. This has allowed some communities to gain the police trust making it a part of the solution. However, a regional police force which would include different participants from all communities could be useful during certain cases.
The war on drugs is what initially gave birth to the militarization of police in communities across America. Unfortunately, post 9/11 war on terror has strengthened the military persona. Innocent citizens including children have fallen victim to this new military of law enforcement in our homeland. With legislations and procedures like a capability in defense resources that allowed the Pentagon to transfer excess military equipment to police, local law enforcement agencies are using weapons found in the combat zone of foreign lands. Since our current President Obama has been in office police agencies have reportedly received over tens of thousands of assault rifles; and roughly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of concealment and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, along with armored cars and military type aircraft. The result is that police agencies around the country possess the military-level equipment, turning officers who are supposed to fight crime and shelter communities into what appears to be an invading force of an army. Moreover, military-style police raids have increased in the past years (Apuzzo, 2014). When should protect and serve public safety and civil liberties out weight the badge?
Force that police tend to use on subjects that pose a threat has become an escalating issue in society today as we know it. Sometimes the public gets the notion that the police abuse their authority and use dangerous
Police brutality is one of the United States main problems. Police officers he been abusing of their power and they discriminate people mostly because either there black or Hispanic. They discriminate our people because we are "dangerous, murders,rapist, and drug addicts”. Police shouldn't be allowed to have so much power they abuse of it hurting people killing them just because they assume they are armed or dangerous. They shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons only their batons and tasers because they don't need to carry a gun it's unnecessary. Britain police do not carry guns because they're trained to protect themselves with their batons our police should be trained the same way. Just cause u have a gun or badge doesn't make any difference
Also I believe part of my policy changes I will be putting in place is that if they are not already, that officers should be trained in a minimum of one less than lethal option they are to carry at all times when on duty. This can range from Tasers, OC spray, Baton or even should drastically improved funding come firefly shotgun rounds. Also in case of new riots or crowd dispersion needs I would love to have if funding and DARPA allowed Active Defense System of non-lethal microwave
The majority of the community think that arming the police will encourage more criminals to carry guns. and this will create more police shootings. They also think that people will become afraid of the police. Others think that police need to carry firearms just in case, and that the police will be safer carrying them. They said that if police did carry firearms they should go through testing and do training.
A greater type of police force is excessive force. According to Schmalleger, (2008), “The International Association of Chiefs of Police defines excessive force as the application of an amount and or
Every state in the United States more than likely has military equipment, but should they be allowed is the question. In my opinion I believe that Law enforcement shouldn’t have no rights at all to get or have military equipment. There are so many law enforcement agencies in the United States because Americans have something of an obsession with local control which in this case is a good thing because the more law agencies we have the more protection we will have. Every year we are seeing more and more gun violence and more deaths.