Police Militarization

“Federal programs are providing an abundant amount of military equipment to law enforcement officers, along with departments’ own purchases, outfitting officers with more firepower than far beyond what is necessary to fulfill their role as protectors of their communities” as research suggests from the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU. The images depicted on the news of the neighborhood police officers wearing face and head protectants, and driving in armored vehicles, wielding around rifles made for war, are not incidents alone in themselves, this is a representation of a nationwide trend of police militarization (ACLU). “Sending in a heavily armed team of officers to perform normal police work can dangerously escalate situations
There are now massive, city engulfing, riots that can take place at any time such as following the Rodney King verdict. Shaw raises the question, “what about the next time somebody goes into an elementary school armed with a Bushmaster and a couple of 9mm Glocks?” People tend to be against putting weapons in teachers hands, or people around the community open carrying to keep the schools safe, and protected. The defence is that police officers should not be going into hostile and dangerous situations unprepared if the situation is in their hands. “Should cops be going into a situation like that with nothing more than a layer of cotton uniform and a revolver to protect themselves and take down the bad guys?” Jazz Shaw asks, “or should they have to wait until a SWAT unit from a larger city shows up, with the shooter mowing down third graders in the meantime”( Jazz Shaw). Lt. Dan Marcou argues against ACLU, stating their research “ignored the fact that law enforcement today is engaged in the community more than ever”. His view was that the police officer's are more involved than ever in the community in various of ways and they are not wearing minute gear that is unnecessary but resourceful. “They are not patrolling in armored vehicles, but in squads, on foot, bikes,
Applying Bentham's view on utilitarianism supported this conclusion. This is not saying that officers do not deserve to be safe in harm's way. It just means that they do not need to be over weaponized to do jobs that could potentially harm others or have a negative effect on