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Cops, not soldiers

Obama correct to end the transfer of military equipment to local police forces

President Obama announced Monday that he is stopping the transfer of certain kinds of military gear to police forces across the county. It is the right move. Police officers and soldiers bear a superficial similarity – but neither they nor their jobs are the same. And the more that can be done to reinforce those differences, the better.

Referring to a White House release in advance of a presidential speech, FoxNews.com reported that “the federal government will no longer fund or provide armored vehicles that run on a tracked system instead of wheels, weaponized aircraft or vehicles, firearms or ammunition of .50-caliber or higher, grenade launchers, bayonets or camouflage uniforms.”

In the wake of rioting last year in Ferguson, Missouri, and criticism of the police response, Obama ordered a review of federal programs that send military equipment to local police departments. That review, published in December, showed that five separate federal agencies spent $18 billion and transferred to police departments 5,235 Humvees, 617 mine-resistent vehicles (including one to La Plata County), 616 aircraft and more than 90,000 small arms.

What all that is supposed to be for is unclear, but, in large part, it seems to be part of both the misbegotten “war on drugs” and the “global war on terror.” The federal programs giving military equipment to cops date to 1990 but really took off following the Sept. 11 attacks.

There is little evidence, however, that all that does any good. On the contrary, the militarization of local police departments can be profoundly harmful.

Members of the military and most police officers wear uniforms. Both groups are proficient in arms and may, in certain circumstances, employ deadly force. Both have military-style ranks, chains of command and ceremony.

Their fundamental missions, however, are profoundly different. While the military does rescue and humanitarian missions, its central purpose and core competence is warfare. Everything about the military is structured around its readiness to go to war.

Police, too, are authorized to employ force. And most carry guns. But, while sometimes necessary, for the police, violence is a secondary function. They must be proficient both with firearms and nonlethal means of restraint, but their job is to keep the peace – not to make war. Most police officers retire without ever having fired their weapon at another person.

The militarization of police can confuse those orientations and goals. The vision of someone in body armor with a military-style rifle and an armored vehicle inspires fear as much as trust. And if members of the public view cops as soldiers, they can see them as an occupying army. What can be lost, then, is the trust and community interaction that is so crucial to effective policing.

Things can be even worse if the police come to see themselves as soldiers. For if they are, who is the enemy?

Police need to be – and to be seen as – members of the community they serve. They, of course, need to protect themselves and others, but they do not need to be equipped to defend against invading armies. That is not the sort of relationship any of us should foster.

Obama got this one right.



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