Police Militarization: Overkill through military technology?: A Rebuttal

A response to Kyler Smith's blog post: http://kylerwrit340.blogspot.com/2017/02/police-militarization-overkill-through.html

Kyler Smith’s argument rests largely on the claim that the 1033 program saves taxpayers money by giving away equipment that the government “would very likely just destroy” and would otherwise be bought by local police on the open market. However, the rhetoric of saving taxpayers money makes sense only if state and local municipalities would buy such combat equipment even without the 1033 Program, a very dubious assumption. A 2014 study by the director of Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research regarded the extent of the 1033 program as “alarming,” asserting that local police departments would not purchase the equipment, were it not available for free or for a minor service charge. This claim is backed by Stewart and Oliver’s (2014) findings that “the number of homeland security initiatives undertaken by police departments in Texas” was better predicted by available grants than by actual perceived risk to homeland security. Though it is certainly true that “each item [of military equipment] was added because of a specific event that went wrong where law enforcement, civilians, or both lost their lives,” this does not explain their necessity in small, rural communities with no serious threats or critical infrastructure.

In 2014, NPR published data from the Pentagon on every military item sent to local, state and federal agencies through the 1033 program from 2006 to April 2014. The data did not confirm whether public safety goals are, in fact, driving decisions about the distribution of equipment. Metropolitan areas with large populations or high crime rates aren't consistently receiving more or less than their share of the items. Nor are greater flows of equipment being shuttled to places along the U.S. borders or coasts, which are more likely to host drug trafficking hubs or terrorist targets (Rezvani et al.). They found that military weapons and equipment are frequently requested where there is no logical demand for them besides enhancing police “presence,” an abstract notion of militaristic power. For instance, there is little evidence that law enforcement in the small town of Jasper, Florida, where there has not been a murder in over a decade, would have acquired “an armored vehicle worth over a quarter of a million dollars” had they not received federal support (Bahr).

This raises further questions which remain unanswered in this argument addressing the underlying desirability of enhancing the law enforcement’s ability to resort to using force. The use of the war analogy by the police in producing and maintaining social order is ultimately grounded in an underlying ideology of militarism in which the threat or use of force to resolve social or political issues is seen as normal, unproblematic, and efficient. Under the 1033 program, the Department of Defense has donated some five billion dollars’ worth of equipment—much of it non-lethal items, like the “bandage kits” and “goggles” the author mentions—to local police departments. Currently, although the 1033 program is theoretically intended preferential treatment to counter-terrorism and counter-drug applications, a lack of oversight has led police departments to use these weapons for any purpose at their own discretion. This has precipitated demonstrations of brute force to stifle outbursts civil unrest—like those in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014—which are arguably inappropriate in a healthy democracy.

Works Cited

Bahr, Mary. "Sadie’S Tanks And The Militarization Of Small Town Police Departments". The Gainesville Iguana. N.p., 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

Denbeaux, Mark et al. Costs and Consequences of Arming America's Law Enforcement with Combat Equipment. Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper No. 2492321, 5 Sept. 2014. Web.

Rezvani, Arezou et al. "MRAPs And Bayonets: What We Know About The Pentagon's 1033 Program". NPR.org. NPR, 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

Stewart, Daniel M. and Willard M. Oliver. "The Adoption Of Homeland Security Initiatives In Texas Police Departments". Criminal Justice Review (2014): 073401681455160. Web.