“War against Civilians” the Militarization of Modern Police

“War against Civilians” the Militarization of Modern Police Since the creation of the Constitution of the United States, Americans have been promised many rights. Most importantly, civilians were promised protection by modern day police officers. The 14th amendment states, "no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In the last couple of years there has been an increase in violence presented by our police officers in the line of duty. The government decided that our police forces need military training to keep up with the increase of criminal acts in America. This started the creation of many special task forces. Many Americans believe that this is great and feel much safer, but other Americans wonder if they are going too far. The training that our police forces are undergoing is being applied on our own people. In many cases our officers have used brutal force with no disregard to the safety of the civilians. (Balko) The two opposing sides continue to argue over whether or not these acts a justified by the crimes committed, and whether our police forces should continue to be drawn towards militarization. Modern day police forces are undergoing a change in aggression toward serious criminal acts. They are taking crimes in a more professional manner and are adapting military tactics into their actions. It is as if the military is training the police officers for a war against the United States. This adaptation is a movement called militarization. (Weber) Officers are undergoing over twenty hours a month in Special Forces training to prepare themselves for what used to be common crimes. There are some special forces that were created just for these cases. For example, one group is S.W.A.T., special weapons and tactics. S.W.A.T.’s goal was to take control of crimes that normal officers could not and to set fear in the minds of criminals. They are involved in crimes such as hostage situations, bomb threats,

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