Rise of the Warrior Cop
The Militarization of America's Police Forces
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4.4 • 10 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A comprehensive exploration of how police forces have become militarized—both in equipment and mindset—and what that means for American democracy.
“Fascinating and at times wrenching.” ―The New Yorker
The last days of colonialism taught America’s revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement.
But over the last two centuries, America’s cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as enemies.
In Rise of the Warrior Cop, journalist and author Radley Balko shows how politicians’ ill-considered policies and relentless declarations of war against vague enemies like crime, drugs, and terror have blurred the distinction between cop and soldier.
This fascinating, frightening narrative that spans from America’s earliest days through to recent events shows how a creeping battlefield mentality has isolated and alienated American police officers and put them on a collision course with the values of a free society.
“Provokes genuine outrage at the misuse of state power in its most brutal and unaccountable form: heavily armed police raiding the homes of unarmed, non violent suspects on the flimsiest of pretexts, and behaving more like an occupying army in hostile territory than guardians of public safety.” —The Economist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Are cops constitutional?" It's a bold and provocative question, and the more Balko (Overkill) delves into the history of law enforcement, the more that question seems worth considering. And yet it's not the mere presence of a police force that concerns the Cato Institute policy analyst (he readily concedes that one is necessary to any functional society); it's the force's gradual militarization that bothers him and many who've found themselves on the wrong side of a SWAT team. Our country's "founding statesmen were adamant about the dangers of armed, standing forces," but Balko argues that we have strayed far from their vision. From the creation of the first SWAT teams in response to the violent riots of the 1960s, to the literal war on drugs, the much-publicized crackdowns on the Occupy movements, and the increasingly frequent deployments of heavily armed units to address minor incidents (underage drinking, anyone? unlicensed barbers?), the list of questionable tactics and militarized raids has grown longer with each passing year, especially in the wake of 9/11. The problem, Balko insists, is that we "tend not to take notice of such long-developing trends, even when they directly affect us. The first and perhaps largest barrier to halting police militarization has probably been awareness." After reading Balko, you'll be aware, alright and scared.
Customer Reviews
Fantastic and chilling
I couldn’t put this book down. The history is fascinating, the individual episodes sprinkled throughout are jaw-dropping, the implications are frankly scary. Conservative or liberal, every American needs to read this book.