Militarized Police

Militarized Police:

In response to the protests and civil unrest in the wake of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Fergusen, MO police officer last Saturday, local authorities have employed armored vehicles, noise based crowd control devices, shotguns, M4 rifles, rubber-coated metal pellets and tear gas.   For 4 straight nights police deployed on Florissant Avenue wearing camouflage, black helmets, and vests with "POLICE" stamped on the back.  Their adversaries were a ragtag group of mostly unarmed neighborhood residents, hundreds of African Americans  whose pent up fury at the police sent them pouring into the streets demanding justice for Michael Brown.

This is an example of the use and miss-use of what has become known as  "militarized police".   The militarization of our police began when then President Reagan intensified the "war on drugs".   The post 9-11 "war on terror" has added fuel to the fire.  

As reported in the New York Times, "police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines, thousands of pieces of camouflage and night vision equipment; hundreds of silencers, armored cars, and aircraft.  The result is that police around the nation posses military grade equipment turning officers who are supposed to fight crime and protect communities into what looks like an invading army".  Military style police raids have increased in recent years.  One recent count puts the number at 80,000 such raids this year.  

In June the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) issued a report based on public records that concludes that police militarization "unfairly impacts people of color and undermines individual liberties, and it has been allowed to happen in the absence of any meaningful public discussion.  Here are 11 things you should know about the militarization of police:

1. It harms and sometimes kills innocent people. - Heavily armed police using flash-bang grenades and armored personnel carries are bound to hurt someone.
2. Children are impacted. - Police conduct their break-ins and gun fights regardless of the presence of children.
3. The use of SWAT teams is often unnecessary. - The ACLU reports that the vast majority of cases  where SWAT teams are deployed are in situations where a search warrant is being executed to look for drugs.  These situations are not why SWAT was created. 
4. The "war-on-terror" is fueling militarization - The DOD (Dept. of Defense) "1033" program provides "surplus military equipment" left over from US military programs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and elsewhere largely cost free to police agencies. 
5. Its a boon to contractor profits. - It is another market for military contractors selling to agencies  with Dept. of Homeland Security grants. 
6. Border militarization and police militarization go hand in hand. - This is also the war on undocumented immigrants.
7. Police are cracking down on dissent. - The use of paramilitary tactics often cause police to over react and so escalate and prolong a conflict.
8. Asset forfeitures are funding police militarization. - Asset forfeitures bring in millions of dollars to police agencies, who spend it for their own uses.  For some police departments it goes to militarizing their personnel. 
9. Dubious informants are used for raids. - In up to 80% of drug cases in America CI's (Confidential Informants) are used.  Some of the information they gather leads to military style police raids.  Unfortunately CI's are quite unreliable and the wrong information can lead to tragic consequences.
10. There's been little debate or oversight.
11. Communities of color bear the brunt. - Across the country communities of color are the people most targeted by police practices.

In my opinion militarizing our police is the wrong way to go.  At the very least we need to insure that there is openness, debate and oversight with regard to militarized police practices.   As is attributed to Thomas Jefferson,  "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

What do you think?