Our Militarized Police

The need to look like soldiers by our police departments seems to be the direction our nation has taken. From the combat gear they wear to the equipment they seek for use that has been designed for war. There's a funny thing that happens when males adorn themselves as soldiers. They take on a militaristic attitude in how they act. In other words, they begin to act as if they are soldiers who are at war. Yes, they start to play war. They appear to be going about their tour, shift if you may, watching for the opportunity to assert their authority as if the entire public is their enemy. After all, the patriot act basically has made us all suspects rather than citizen who are innocent until proven guilty of a crime.

Now, tell me something, what does the public see and think when they see officer friendly now dressed in full combat gear? How do they feel about the presence of these officers of the law when they are approached by an armed soldier rather than an officer who took an oath to protect and serve? To me it kind of suggests that are living under the occupation of an invading force and that we are being scrutinized as the enemy. With the ever growing incidences of police misconduct lately, that picture grows more vivid with each case.

There are plenty of good officers out there, I would say a great majority of them are. It's those officers that have taken the militarizing of their appearance and decided to play war that have brought the trust of police departments across this country to its lowest level in the history of our nation. Then once the “Blue Wall” is put in place to protect those who have abused their positions, the entire justice system takes on the face of those few bad officers. This has got to change, the “I feared for my life” statements are being shown to be less than true when what you see is someone running away and being shot in the back by the officer. Another incident where a perpetrator of not committing a crime is hassled then while on his face on the pavement, four shots ring out killing him.

The militarization of the police forces across this country has left us with an us against them society that has taken away more trust from our citizens than can be understood. When we fear the police more than those our government considers to be the terrorists, we have a problem.

I sure would like to bring back the days when we were able and very willing to teach our children that if they are ever lost or in trouble that they could turn to and trust the policeman on the corner for help.