The United States Police Force

Many people “do not want their police to treat their neighborhoods like war zones” (A). As a democratic country, the local governments should listen to their constituents and remove these militarized forces that residents fear will turn their secure neighborhoods into deadly war zones. Additionally, the ACLU found that, contrary to what law enforcement agencies may claim, “the use of military weapons and tactics tends to escalate the risk of violence,” instead of enhancing public safety (A). This means that the removal of these unnecessary law enforcement agencies will decrease the risk of violence and ensure that cities remain safe. In San Jose, the police themselves decided to get rid of their military vehicle, claiming that “it could be viewed by the community as the militarization of [the San Jose Police Department],” which “could create a divide [when] they want the community’s trust” (A).

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 Warrior Cop Project Organization represents law enforcement officers. Our ultimate goal is public awareness and education on the origins, the present, and the future of militarization of police and the safety of all American police officers. This paper examines the militarization of the American police forces as it pertains to the increased equipment and training needed by police to remain safe while effectively doing their required jobs. Militarization of police: it is more than just equipment. Our organization is pro-militarization of the police. Our police officers must be allowed to protect themselves when threatened. These threats are manifested on

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

This research project is an analysis of six scenarios. The scenarios are as follows: History and rolls of law enforcement in society, Levels of jurisdiction, Distinction among the multiple functions of Law enforcement agencies, Analysis of Historical events that have shaped modern policing practices, Ethical and professional behavior in the workplace, and Evaluation of how knowledge, skills, and attitude learned in this course apply to your chosen career. There will also be a summary of reactions on Ethical and professional behavior in the work place. Included in the second section, there will be six scenarios. The responses will incorporate knowledge of

Police Militarization Is a Problem the Left and Right Can Agree About - and Solve. Retrieved May 4, 2018, from

In looking for answers as to why police brutality is such a big issue today, we see that the problem lies in past actions that were not dealt properly. First, Prohibition reduced respect for authority and law enforcement, as the police committed various unconstitutional acts. Next, the War on Drugs and the War on Terror changed the image of law enforcement from that of a peacekeeper to that of a domestic soldier. As a result of this inaction, American society finds itself in a crisis situation, where people cannot trust the police and where police are struggling to regain credibility with the American population.

Terrorism has always existed in American policing, and while the groups committing these acts have changed, their intentions have not. Their intentions being to cause maximum fear and scare those who they target into doing and following their ideology. In the 1970’s and 1980’s in America, the main terrorist groups were associated with the environmental movement and race based groups, while other parts of the world were dealing with Islamic extremists, were committing terrorist acts across the Middle East without much intervention from the United States. In fact the group Al-Qaeda, who attacked the World Trade Centers in 1993 and 2001, found its roots in the 1980’s fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with weapons supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency. While the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement agencies knew of these groups, they underestimated the capabilities of lone wolf, small cell, and whole terrorist organizations. This was due to the fact that the Federal Law Enforcement agencies top priority was general crime such as organized crimes and white-collar crime.

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.

Furthermore, there are many problems associated with militarizing our police that we need to recognize and address. Police militarization started with the intent of combating terrorism but has grown to unnecessary uses and applications. Instead, we see too much force and tension applied to minor operations and a lot of misuse of power while handling citizens, primarily people of color. It does not help that policemen’s

The social issue that is most important to fix is separating the police from militarization in the U.S. Before the ‘‘War on Drugs’’ police are meant to keep citizen safe, detect and prevent crime and bring public order. Now after the ‘‘War on Drugs’’ was announced, President Ronald Reagan passed the federal law that police cooperate with military and use military equipment as justification on the war on drugs. As time pass in modern times we still see police using military equipment and vehicles around the street. This became an issue to many people, as police carry military possession in their hands. These are my reason why police and military should be separated. My first reason is that police are meant for civil order and keeping the peace.

Law Enforcement officers have one of the most critical jobs in the United States. Their lives are always on the line and they are of high regards. This means they cannot fail! The results of their jobs do not only depend on their actions but also on the people. What this means is the community has a huge role when it comes to solving crime. Though many people may not believe it, they are the key to a successful crime prevention community. The people of the United States don’t really understand both the positive and negative effects that community policing actually brings. Some may say it is very dangerous based on their experiences. Others may say it’s the best way to do away with crime. Today the two will be compared and put to test by true officers serving our country. The facts will be stated and questions will be answered. Let’s take a look at what community policing is really all about!

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.

Small town Holdrege, Nebraska is where I decided to look a little further into law enforcement on the State level. There are quite a few State Troopers in this area, or it seems to be that way anyways. I contacted Sargent John Wagner for an interview. I have to say these men/women in uniform are slightly intimidating. I’m not sure if it is the uniform, or the fact I grew up thinking these officers of the law are just that scary. I guess we shall see once we begin the interview.

The psychologist serves a great purpose in the law enforcement as well. The police psychologists provide services that are used to counter police use of excessive force. The psychologists are there to characterize the types of officers who are known to abuse force and to recommend psychology-based intervention that could help police managers reduce cases of excessive force. Some think that the police departments should rely mostly on pre employment screening to identify violence-prone candidates.