POLICE MILITARIZATION

POLICE MILITARIZATION

Introduction.

Over the recent past, the use of force by the police has raised significant concerns in many countries. Citizens have been complaining against the police use of force. The outcome is that the public has lost trust over the local police, thereby leading to a lack of confidence. However, it must be taken into consideration that the type of force which the citizens complain about is the excess unnecessary force. The complaints against the police deserve to be given much attention because of organizational importance. It is because of the enormous costs attributed to these types of cases. Some organizations are on the verge of bankruptcy due to these cases. Several methods have been put into place, such as employing police body-worn surveillance cameras. In this essay, we shall sample out examples where police used excessive force and the methods that have been put into place to overcome the occurrence of similar cases.

Cases where police depicted the use of excessive force

One of the major concerns which have been raised over police militarization is that it usually focusses on people of color. Take an example of the police shooting of the 18-year old Michael Brown in August 2014. The incidence sparkled a vast wave of clashes, which was were between law enforcement officers and protestors. The impact resulted in minors standing armored police vehicles and snippers, thus inspiring a national conversation about police militarization and race. However, according to research conducted by Jonathan Mummolo, a political science graduate at Stanford showed that the militarized use of force varied from one agency to another. The conclusion of the study was backed up by the wake of Ferguson.

In another instance, in 2008 in Maryland, the swat team depicted the use of force in quite an unusual way. On the incidence, the address of a small town was being used for drug trafficking scheme. However, instead of the SWAT intercepting a shipment worth 32-pounds on its way to Calvo residence, they allowed its delivery and invaded the house of the mayor. During the invasion, the mayor and his wife were interrogated while on the floor. Additionally, two dogs belonging to the residence were also killed. Since the mayor and his wife were entirely innocent, the town issued a decree that the actions of the police should be recorded. The recording began in 2010 and ended in 2014 (Mummolo, 2018). The effect is that a study of police cases in the town over the four years showed quite an improvement.

Methods used to control the use of excessive force by the police

Due to the escalated incidences of citizens’ complaints on police use of extreme energy, the law enforcement agencies resolved that police on duty should wear a mobile camera. A study by various scholars’ o this method of controlling excessive use of force showed that the total number of incidences decreased immensely (Ariel et al., 2014). For instance, before the method was put into place, there were about ten times more citizen complaints in 12 months. After the technique was put into place, the claims decreased by quite a considerable margin. The implication is that the theory of deterrence was proved.

Also, another method was put to trial, which was known as the “police shift as the unit of analysis.” The technique entailed random allocation of half the officers with cameras while the other half was not wearing cameras. The method aimed to make officers the subject matter, however, due to various factors such as revolving of officers in pairs on a routine basis. Additionally, the method was also omitted due to methodological reasons. Besides, some officers prefer to work in a specific shift than others, deeming the way quite impractical to employ in deterrence.

Conclusion.

In the essay, we have given two case scenarios that depicted officer use of force. In the first instance, the use of force was seen as if it focused on people of color; the charges were dismissed. The second case showed the use of force by officers, which in turn caused a general change in the town of Maryland. The fact of change in Maryland concurs with another study made about the police body-worn surveillance camera. The second method, which was deployed on de-escalation, proved hard on an observation basis, therefore discarded.

References

Ariel, B., Farrar, W. A., & Sutherland, A. (2014). The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens’ Complaints Against the Police: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 31(3), 509-535. doi:10.1007/s10940-014-9236-3

Mummolo, J. (2018). Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(37), 9181-9186. doi:10.1073/pnas.1805161115