“
Soldierin’ and policin’ – they ain’t the same thing.”
Major Howard “Bunny” Colvin,
The Wire Season 3, Episode 10 (2014)
Reading through the responses, my likes clearly indicate which side I fall on…I hold a very strong opinion regarding the militarization of civilian law enforcement agencies (CLEA), local, state and federal…this includes not only the military equipment, but the cultural, organizational, and operational changes that occur within the agency as a result.
DHS is the largest benefactor of the 1033 program…and that is a significant concern.
Up front, I do expect every local patrolman to have a shotgun (riotgun) or AR styled rifle in their cruiser, along with body armor (concealed & worn always) and the proper training to employ the weapons…the nature of criminal conduct in the U.S. today warrants such, much the same as the initial arming of CLEA with “tommy guns” and BARs during the prohibition era made sense.
Additionally, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams are a necessary ingredient for many local and state agencies, though clearly not all require them, and every member of the force need not be a SWAT team member.
With military equipment comes military training…followed by a training induced military mind-set (Hey look, I’m an operator!)…changes in the culture of the organization and how it operates will follow.
We no longer have time for traffic patrol…lets put up red light cameras to do our job so we can have more time at TRC for tactical training.
Oh, we also need a significant budget increase…maintenance for all of our new military gear and training programs, and lets not forget to accessorize our new equipment!
I am still appalled that the good citizens of Boston rolled over when their constitutional rights were suspended in the wake of the bombing and the subsequent occupation of the city by a paramilitary CLEA Army…well organized and equipped, at times many elements of this “Army” were often indistinguishable from the very best equipped active duty U.S Army units (see photos at end). What should have been a detailed police investigation turned into a neighborhood by neighborhood, house to house urban clearing operation by uniformed, paramilitary civilian law enforcement, augmented by select ARNG capabilities. American Liberty took a full frontal that day, and not from the terrorists ,but from its own.
The riots most closely remembered, Ferguson, Baltimore, even tiny Charlottesville do not hold a candle to the race riots of the 60s in Watts and Detroit, or the 92 LA riots…these required significant deployments of not only ARNG forces, but active duty military forces…and that is what is supposed to happen when CLEA are overwhelmed (by shear numbers) or overmatched (by weaponry), same with the Katrina response (as bad as it was).
I disagree with building up CLEA’s to provide a military level response to civilian situations…if a military response is warranted, let the military handle it. If you want to play operator and “operate”, enlist today…we are still a nation at war and your boots are needed overseas.
This is a very informative read that was recently published: Militarization and police violence: The case of the 1033 program
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053168017712885
These pictures from the Boston response speak volumes…what if you were the family depicted, no warrant, just get out…or if they were pointing their weapons at you…was this necessary…Liberty with a knife at her throat.
