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The policing tactics that killed #BreonnaTaylor -- such as no-knock warrants -- are due to a decades-long intertwining of US police departments with the US military.
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![The policing tactics that killed #BreonnaTaylor -- such as no-knock warrants -- are due to a decades-long intertwining of US police departments with the US military.[THREAD]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ei1_ZO2XcAECXT2.jpg "The policing tactics that killed #BreonnaTaylor -- such as no-knock warrants -- are due to a decades-long intertwining of US police departments with the US military.[THREAD]")
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In this thread, I am not addressing how US foreign policy led to the distribution of military equipment to local police.
I discussed that in a previous thread. https://twitter.com/ProfPaulPoast/status/1269620204289568769
I discussed that in a previous thread. https://twitter.com/ProfPaulPoast/status/1269620204289568769
Instead, I want to focus on how police and military institutions have intertwined in 
to make police departments more "militarized".
to make police departments more "militarized".
The most visible representation of this intertwining is Homeland Security.
But the intertwining (or blurring) started well before DHS was formed (in 2002), as discussed by @Peterkraska in this 2007 article https://academic.oup.com/policing/article-abstract/1/4/501/1440981
He identifies several indicators of militarization of US police (again, beyond acquisition of military weapons). Three are worth highlighting here:
- SWAT units
- Rapid Raids
- The "Police-izing" of the US military
- SWAT units
- Rapid Raids
- The "Police-izing" of the US military
First is the rise of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) units, or what he calls "Police Paramilitary Units".
SWAT units are modeled off of Special forces units in the US military. Indeed, this modeling is embraced by some forms of US pop-culture (see CBS programs)
While @Peterkraska mentions the rise of SWATS in the 2007 paper, he specifically focused on their rise in this 1997 paper https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article-abstract/44/1/1/1646485?redirectedFrom=fulltext
This chart from the paper makes clear the growth of these units
Second, Kraska brings up the use of "No-knock/quick-knock raids".
They developed during the 1980s and, for him, are clear indicator of excessive militarization
They developed during the 1980s and, for him, are clear indicator of excessive militarization
Third, over time the US military has taken on more policing style work, rather than military operations. Think of the Counter-insurgency tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan: patrols, house-to-house searches, rapid house raids, etc
The use (and refinement) of such tactics abroad can then be brought home.
One mechanism can be former soldiers trained in such tactics joining police departments. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/03/30/when-warriors-put-on-the-badge
One mechanism can be former soldiers trained in such tactics joining police departments. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/03/30/when-warriors-put-on-the-badge
Another mechanism is the US government treating the US as a "front" in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), thereby justifying close cooperation (& training) between military and police agencies.
To be clear, these trends started before 9/11/2001 and the GWOT.
They are the product of "securitizing" domestic crime issues, meaning something becomes a security issue if you describe it as a security issue. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0967010611418718
They are the product of "securitizing" domestic crime issues, meaning something becomes a security issue if you describe it as a security issue. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0967010611418718
Most relevant for the militarizing of US policing, think "War on Drugs", which started in the 1970s (as discussed by @cricklet)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395912000503#!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395912000503#!
To further unpack the direct historical linkages between the rise of paramilitary units/tactics by US police forces and US Counter-insurgency operations abroad, one should read @stschrader1's book https://www.amazon.com/Badges-without-Borders-Counterinsurgency-Transformed/dp/0520295625
For instance, @stschrader1 shows how Lyndon Johnson's National Security Advisor Walt Rostow created a table in 1967 making crystal clear the conceptual parallels between National Security & Domestic Policing
In sum, the militarization of US policing is not solely about the weapons acquired by local departments. It is also the product of a deliberate blurring of the lines between the agencies that provide "internal security" and those that provide "external security".
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