Whether you are a privileged student in a good university, a parent of small children, a kid, a grandmother, or any of the other types of ordinary people in this country, you should be worried about the increasing militarization of the police.
The police are human beings. That means they are subject to all kinds of influences, just like everybody else; for some of them, their families, their communities, and the media to which they have been exposed have made them angry, frightened, violent, hateful, bigoted. These traits are pretty scary in anyone, but particularly in people with guns. Especially big guns, rapidly firing guns, guns with no brains or morals.
And because they are human, police can also make mistakes. Huge mistakes.
You all know about Ferguson, Missouri, and similar nationally-recognized episodes starring militarized police but even Ferguson has its less well known stories.
There are probably thousands of other examples of police misuse of their increasingly militarized power—and the limited sanctions that ensue from their misuse– that led to tragedy.
For example, read this brief TruthOut article for five really outrageous examples of SWAT raids gone wrong.
As is true of so many social problems, efforts are being made to rein in the abuses of a militarized police force .
If enough people become involved, perhaps we can reduce the progress towards 1984 in 2015 and beyond.
