@JangoWuzHere:

Primarily, it is noteworthy to bring into the light that a common misconception regarding military personnel is that they all endure war and combat. Every soldier chooses an MOS at the beginning of the enlistment process; many of which are services, mechanical support, medical professionals, logistics, law enforcement, etc. Not every United States military solider is an aerial gunner, tank operator, armor officer, fire support specialist, and so on. With this being said, it is not a matter of prior military service when selecting police officers; but rather a matter of individual police recruit personality and ability. Simply because a police officer served his/her country before serving his/her community does not mean that they are going use increased force on the citizens they encounter.

In fact, some aspects of American policing assimilate to the culture of the military. For example, the idea of academy training is similar to that of basic military training. Also, ex-military personnel that become police officers are already used to wearing uniforms and addressing their superiors by rank as a sign of respect. However, the missions of the police and the missions of the military are not the same. Though this does not mean that just because a person was in the military, they will not be able to serve efficiently as a police officer.

Police militarization is in large part due to the “war on crime” model which has skewed the police mission. According to Skolnick and Fyfe (1993), it has caused many police officers to become “demoralized and frustrated”. Unlike the soldiers in the military, the police will never be victorious in their “war” because they are fighting an unknown enemy and crime will never completely be eliminated. In my opinion, the main problem is not the people carrying out the duties of police; it is the current mode in which policing is operating under. Use of force is used in less than 1% of cases, which gives a solid indication that not many “people” or “individuals” can be blame for this issue. If you would like to see any of the sources that I utilized, please let me know.

@doejack202:

I generally agree with what you have brought into light regarding the militarized image of the police. You illuminated a valid point when you declared that training and education is not the main issue when dealing with use of force. However, it is noteworthy to mention that improper training could lead to the development of negative traits associated with subculture in new police officers. The police are trained to be able to reasonably make split second decisions in citizen encounters. Police can never be sure what a citizen’s next actions are going to be; they have to react with the best option of force within seconds, without having a chance to critically analyze their decision until after the fact. Nevertheless, Tennessee v. Garner sets forth factors that have to be present for an officer to reasonably use deadly force and it be justified. These provisions are “if an officer has probable cause that an individual is posing a serious threat to physical harm of either other officers or people, the use of deadly force may be reasonable to prevent escape of the suspect”. Although it may seem to the public eye that officers get away with everything, they are internally investigated and their reputations are laid on the line in these incidents. Police officers do not act on their own free will; they are knowledgeable on the limits placed on their power and the standards in place to protect both them and citizens. With regards to pre-use of force, departmental administration need to use more early intervention programs that provide warning signs of the risk of an officer to potentially abuse his/her ability to use force. Certain categories of misconduct provide early signals that can warn of aggressive or unreasonable behavior in a police officer. Although this method has its flaws and is not as effective as it appears to be, it can still provide baseline knowledge about individual officers. Various academic sources were used in writing this comment, if you are interested in these, feel free to request them.