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Police Militarization Of Police

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How does the Militarization of Police Affect the People?
“Guns not only permit violence; they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger.” - Leonard Berkowitz, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Wisconsin. Leonard Berkowitz studied the aggression that people showed when they were in the presence of a gun or weapon. His research found that the sight of a weapon automatically caused aggression. What does this mean and how does it correlate with the militarization of police? This could conclude that having military gear makes police more aggressive towards the people they’re supposed to protect. But then, what about the people who are faced with this military gear? The Elaborated …show more content…

This legislation made it possible for U.S. military partnership with civilian law enforcement. The reason why they wanted this collaboration was to fight the growing war on drugs at the time. This act had the U.S. military sharing information, facilities, training and of course the use of military equipment. Another big push towards militarization was the creation of the Department of Defense Excess Property Program, a federal program in the early 1990’s, also known as the 1033 Program. This program was created under President Bill Clinton. The 1033 program has distributed $4.3 billion of military equipment. In 2013, $449,309,003.71 worth of military property was given to law enforcement. It’s not only the military gear that has police using excessive force. A Department of Justice investigation on the Philadelphia Police Department found that officers are trained into using excessive force. In this investigation it was found that many officers justify their use of deadly force by saying they’re “in fear for their life”. You’ve heard many officers say "whatever I need to do to get home safe." The problem with this is, they see the people they’re supposed to protect as a threat to them. Also, their instructions on policies for the use of force is confusing and most training scenarios end in force; rarely being trained on how to solve problems peacefully. The most important finding was that 80% of the shooting victims were black since they were more prone to to be seen as a threat. Racial profiling is the reason why black people are targeted more. People defend racial profiling by saying that 9/11 is a prime example as to why you should profile. Another reason is that minorities commit the majority of crimes. Black people are involved in drug offenses proportional to their population in the

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Keeps a kid from running for office” (P. 3). Overall, Spence concludes with the argument that the city of Baltimore are using its police officer as a toll of social control. That from police stops majority occurring in Western and the Central Districts affecting the poorest black neighbourhoods “is producing and reproducing a population that has no functional purpose other than to be policed” (p.3). This is not just occurring in Baltimore either. “Seeing police violence as simply an expression of racism omits this crucial component.

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O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York, NY: Houghton, 1990. Print. 233 pages. The Things

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Instead of facilitating the war on terrorism and drugs, the program has breed a new type of law enforcement officers who carry out every operation in a military manner, relying on military tools and a military mindset even in situations, such as peaceful public demonstrations, that do not call for the use of excessive force. The police are needed to be a symbol to communities, that they are indeed there to protect becoming a more aggressive force does not give people that same reassurance. "However, the program has been heavily criticized for militarizing law enforcement agencies that has led to increased violent conduct among law enforcers" (Kraska, 2007) Its thought that aggressive policing is what's needed to stop crime in America but its a tactic that

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One common opinion is that officers should not use more force than is necessary or reasonable, and even then, that force should be used only as a last resort. “Police use force to affect civilians’ conduct. On a day-to-day basis, they do so most often by employing the least degree of force available to them, their mere presence. Cops wear uniforms and drive distinctly marked cars so that, without saying a word, they may have an effect on citizens’ behavior” (Fyfe, 38). When an officer’s presence fails to fulfill the desired conduct, the next course of action for said officer would be verbalization.

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130 Words | 1 Pages

Psychological state of tactical officers is to restore order, unlike active shooters who thrive on chaos. “In a study conducted by the commercial law enforcement training company Hard Tactics (Barchers, 2010), researchers concluded that the faster a shooter is confronted by police, the higher the probability of de-escalating the situation with no further loss of life” (Harmening, 2014, Pg 83). Ultimately, goal of tactical officers is to de-escalate the situation to prevented causalities, and this is demonstrating in their training. Responding officers are train to make immediately contact with active shooter though the use of force. This is primarily done to prevented the shooter additional time to kill more civilians lives, and to allow officers

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Even though the Stop and Frisk program was a highly controversial law, a revised version of it should be implemented in every major city that suffers from high crime rates. The majority of people wanted the program to continue because it worked very well in NYC and It drastically reduced the number of murders and major crime in the city. First, In this essay, I will elaborate on what I mean by “a revised version” of the Stop and Frisk program, address the arguments made against the law, and then show you my argument for the program and the good it brought to the city of NYC and the good it can bring to other cities in America. First off, what was the Stop and Frisk program? The Stop and Frisk program is the practice of detaining, questioning

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“Militarization of policing encourages officers to adopt a ‘warrior’ mentality and think of the people they are supposed to serve as enemies” (Levs, 3). The police, militarized units, and other authorities had the task to safely calm the violent protests, and to prevent the protesters from continuing to damage the city. The tactics that they used were not only unnecessary, but also extreme. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore said, “The tactics they are using, I don’t know where they learned them from, it appears they may be making them up on the way. But this is escalating the situation …

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Proponents of the militarization of police argue that such tactics can provide important benefits in high-risk situations. One key advantage is the enhanced tactical capabilities that militarized police units possess, which can allow them to effectively address situations with significant potential risk to officers or the public. Examples include superior weaponry in comparison to any criminal element they face, personal armor and safety equipment, as well as enhanced vehicles to transport more officers or secure thoroughfares. Unfortunately, these situations have become more common in recent years, with a drastic rise in mass shootings and terrorist attacks (). These kinds of attacks are precisely why proponents of militarizing the police insist on its importance.

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Fatal Police Shootings “27 percent of African Americans are killed by the law enforcement” (Cooke 1) most of these are from fatal police shootings. Fatal police shootings have become an epidemic. The majorities of fatal police shootings are justified as homicides or have not been fully investigated. Plenty of cases have been closed due to false accusations. The turning point occurred when Martin Luther King Jr., Rodney King and many more were brutality beaten and or killed by police officers.

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Some people may not know that racial profiling has been a problem in the United States. Often people think racial profiling most likely began in the 1990’s because of the news reports of African Americans being profiled. For example, “Driving while black”. According to the West Encyclopedia, "The most common form of racial profiling occurs when police stop, question, and search African American, Hispanic American, or members of other racial minorities disproportionately based solely on the individuals ' race or ethnicity". Racial profiling often happens because some police officers target people based on their

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Subculture is a term used to define a small culture within a bigger culture. This concept normally applies to smaller cultures within a bigger culture; but it can also apply to different groups of people within an organization or smaller groups within a society. Some examples of organizational subculture include the verity of justice professionals; although they are considered to be public servants, no one in society actually understands the stressful nature of the job except justice professionals, thus police subculture was created. Cop Code The movie “Training Day” directed by Antoine Fuqua, was as great example of police subculture because it exemplifies the cop code, which is “an informal code of conduct that new officers are taught through informal socialization (Pollock, 2015.

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Many officers have been tried due to the excessive force. Some of these officers have have ended up being convicted of the crime, where others just lost their job. There have been many been many well publicized high profile cases in the last 30 years, where some of the officers have been arrested due to their part

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The argument that racial profiling by law enforcement helps apprehend more criminals is challenged in this quote by Jesper Ryberg, a professor in the philosophy of law. “The use of profiling of a minority may lead to a decrease in the offending pattern of this minority but may imply that the majority will offend more now that they are being searched less” (Ryberg). Basically, white people will get away with crime a lot more than minorities. Nobody can deny this because minorities simply have a higher chance of being searched than do whites. In order to protect the well-being of the whole country against the attacks from a terrorist group, a proponent of discrimination would say that profiling these people is nothing to be ashamed about.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

Racial Profiling and the disproportionate use of police force are controversial political issues. Debates on racial bias in policing continue to reverberate across the country making headlines, aside from the importance of the debate on racial profiling and police use of force, such events create intergroup conflict, foreground stereotypes and trigger discriminatory responses. A serious issue in today’s society is the rising tension between the police force and the community which has developed through racial profiling and police brutality. In New York City, the controversial “stop, question, and frisk” policy was endorsed by some as essential for reducing crime rates (MacDonald 2001) and challenged by others as racially biased with a heavy burden placed on affected individuals and communities (Fagan et al. 2010).

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892 Words | 4 Pages

Police Brutality is an ongoing problem and existent concern in the United States and should be resolved immediately. Law enforcement must function as an element that consists of organized and civilized officers. The presence of police brutality is becoming more of an issue as society grows. The problem posed by the illegal exercise of police power is an ongoing reality for individuals of a disfavored race, class, or sexual orientation. Police brutality must be stopped so that police do not forget who they are serving – not themselves, but the public.

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