Pros And Cons Of The Militarization Of Police

Some people argue that police officers in our communities abuse their authority and power over citizens. Nowadays police officers seem to be more aggressive and end up being looked at as criminals. Some cops are even using their power to do bad things, and this has had a major effect on society that is making everyone afraid of cops. But, some people, too, argue the point if a cop did misuse his power was it justified. People in our communities are even beginning to feel as if cops aren't here to protect us anymore. Our laws have allowed criminals that good police officers arrest to slip through the system untouched, and this makes officers feel as if they have to bring matters of justice into their own hands. Police brutality has turned into somewhat of a myth because of our court system not punishing them as according.

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.

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.

President Barrack Obama in a Huffington Post article back in 2014 said, “I think it 's probably useful for us to review how the funding has gone, how local law enforcement has used grant dollars, to make sure that what they are purchasing is stuff they actually need. Because there’s a big difference between our military and local law enforcement and we don 't want those lines blurred. That would be contrary to our traditions.” This is all too familiar nowadays. Police Militarization has appeared to have gone too far in local and state police officers. To combat the war on drugs in 1971 President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs causing a dramatic increase in federal agencies both in size and presence. It wasn’t until 1997 when the 1033 program launched causing billions of dollars of military surplus equipment to be available to local and state law enforcement. Now in 2015 some lawmakers are attempting to stop the program, such as Democratic Florida representative Alan Grayson. Grayson failed in his attempts in June to stop the 1033 program by a 3 to 1 margin by his own Democratic Party. It is unclear how our reliance on high duty weaponry and the latest technology can help police officers who only see the equipment as toys. For example, in August 9th the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri caused unrest when a police officer shot an unarmed man. Putting race aside this is a direct violation of the 4th amendment. Justice Byron R. White stated that, “The

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” (John F. Kennedy). Police Brutality is a violation to the Federal Civil Rights Act. If cruelly beaten, kicked, and thrown by a person who is supposed to ensure the law, will you then trust them afterwards? Will your rights be valid then? Officers wear the badge and uniform which will make them feel superior making them think the law is in their hands and can twist and change it as they please. Jessica Watson-Crosby comments on the police brutality history and says, from the point of view of its victims, police were seen as protecting the upper classes. Police violence only came under scrutiny when “decent” people became victims, usually accidentally. As you see the chaos created by officers has been in the United States for a long time and has worsened over time. “Police are guaranteed a steady living. Unlike other workers , they typically are not threatened by layoffs or pay cuts” (Watson-Crosby). All who did not give their opinion over the authority were left unharmed and for the ones who spoke to let their rights be known were not as lucky. “Many police see themselves as part of the upper classes “the enforcers of social value” even while the upper classes see them as ignorant brutes. As a rule, the upper

“Overall, reported homicides were up 16% in 2015, but a majority of cities (44 of 60) have not seen a statistically significant increase in homicides” (Congressional Research Service). Some believe the rate of violent crimes in the United States is increasing due to the Ferguson incident. The Ferguson incident is the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The shooting aroused protests around the United States pertaining to reforming on how police use force. Experts have been pegging the general increase in violent crimes in the United States due to the Ferguson incident the “Ferguson effect.” The Ferguson effect tells that in wake of the incident, police have become more reluctant to engage in proactive policing.

I believe that limiting the power of the police to use deadly force makes the officers job more difficult. Limiting the power makes the officers job more dangerous from the point of the suspect knowing the officer is unable to respond correctly to a situation. If an officer is unable to use the force necessary for certain situations, it not only endangers the officer’s life but the lives of citizens around them. The officer’s ability to assist the public may also be limited. Why would the public want to call the police who will be unable to use deadly force to assist them?

The United States has long regarded with great suspicion efforts to use the military as a tool of civilian law enforcement. In significant part, this attitude grew out of the colonists’ experiences with the abuses of the British Army. These abuses included the Boston Massacre of 1770, in which the British Army opened fire on colonists protesting the use of the army to enforce civilian laws (Doherty, 2016). These attitudes led to an effort during the early post-Revolution period to separate military and police powers (Doherty, 2016), as well as the Third Amendment with its specific limitations on the military’s authority over

I personally support United States law enforcement agencies and believe that they make our country a better place. Currently a lot of controversy surrounds America's police force with cases of excessive force coming to light through social media. In these cases, I think both sides are to blame for the violence that ensues. In defense of police officers, they were attempting to apprehend a suspect that was in the process of breaking the law. However, this does not exempt them of their use excessive force or the cases where the suspect is killed. A change that can be made to help calm the situation is harsher punishment for officers caught using excessive force. While these changes are an important step in preventing police brutality, it

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.

As the United States of America was born and the population increased as did the urgency of keeping order and civil rest. Beginning with Sheriff’s in the counties, policing was then instituted in all forms of government agencies, utilizing the gendarmerie principle and paid with taxes by the citizens of the land. As our country developed and became more populated and civil, so did the number of officers in the police agencies across our country. Each individual community differs on issues ranging from drug abuses, theft and now more prevalent, police brutality.

In this current period of time, police men and women have an even bigger target on their backs compared to times of the past. In the past year, we as students have had a very unique opportunity as criminal justice majors to see some interesting events unfold, such as the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, a number of allegedly wrongful deaths done by the police’s hands, to the riots in Baltimore. With all of this happening, I feel that the use of technology and militarization is beneficial to the men and women across America who serve as police officers. Along with this, not only is it more beneficial to police, but it could be more beneficial to civilians as well.

My social advocacy group’s position regarding the militarization of police is that it is necessary for every local police agency to be armed and trained to neutralize any threat it may face to protect the citizens within their district. There have been 142 shootings around schools in the years following the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut (Fantz, Knight, & Wang, 2014). From 2004-2008, there were an average of 564 work related shootings for every year (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010). In 2014 there were a total of 3,961 bank robberies. Of those 1,881 involved some type of a gun, 93 were an explosive device, and 31 had another type of weapon. These resulted in 13 deaths, 63 injured, and 31 hostages (FBI, 2015). This

The use of force, with regards to law enforcements use of it, is a complex topic that should be looked at in all perspectives. There is tension between the police and the community they work for, on whether this is a power that the officers should have or not. There are ambiguous laws that do not give law enforcement offices much guidelines on what is exactly permissible when it comes to force, and all the different situations it could occur. The line that the use of force leis on is often a fine one. It is teetering between excessive force and never being able to enforce the laws. The use of forces is a conversation that is worth having with all the pros and cons that it brings to the discussion board.