By Chris Shea, staff writer
After teenager Michael Brown was shot on Aug. 9 by police officers, the town of Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, quickly turned the mourning into an escalation of violence.
From the beginning, the protestors were met with military-style tactics from armed officers. The protests saw the use of police combating protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Images of police response in Fer- guson has ignited a nationwide debate about what some see as the actual militarization of America’s police forces. It’s no longer made up of the friendly neighborhood cop; he or she has now become a warrior. As
Radley Balko says in his book, Rise of the Warrior Cop, dressing for battle can turn into a self prophecy: when you dress up as a soldier, you will try to act like one.
This doesn’t just occur in places like Ferguson, military-like police are all over the United States. And this behavior isn’t new.
Since the 1960s, in response to various “threats,” law-enforcement agencies over America have been turning the average police officer into a soldier. By 1996, in a response from the “War on Drugs,” the U.S. Defense Department transferred $4.3 billion in military equipment to local and state police departments. After the September 11th attacks, the Pentagon gave more equipment to combat the threat of terrorism.
This has happened on such a scale that small towns like Keene, N.H. were able to apply for a “BearCat,” a military-grade, armored personnel truck. Their application argued that “the terrorism threat is far reaching and often unforeseen.” The possible target for terror (as believed by the town) was the annual Pumpkin Festival.
During an interview with CNN in 2014, Radley Balko stated that the US Army recommended against using these armored trucks on military bases. The vehicles are also bad for American roads, he said.
“On paved streets in the United States, they’re actually unsafe. They tear up the streets, they have a high roll- over potential,” said Balko.
The police are not soldiers. So why were officers in Ferguson wearing cam- ouflage? They are near St. Louis, not near Afghanistan. If the police want to blend in with their surroundings, they should dress in gray, like the Gateway Arch.
Although there is a threat of terror and violence, there is no need for the over militarization of police. They should dress for the job they have, not the one they want.