My favorite writer, Kurt Eichenwald, is out with a piece over at Newsweek slamming the modern militarization of police departments. But it also goes a lot further, showing a linkage between the use of this unnecessary equipment and violence against people of color.
Plus, the piece makes no bones about the reality that minorities face every day, using statistics that put the lie to the usual Fox blatherings: "The reason minorities feel at greater risk of physical harm from the police is because they are at greater risk."
The piece compares the events in Ferguson to the Chicago police riots of the 1960s (both even had a connection to a guy named Nixon.) But it also slams the Ferguson cops in obvious words that too many of the MSM reporters avoid.
What this country has just witnessed in Ferguson was, like in Chicago, an example of police gone wild—poorly led, poorly trained, unprofessional, displaying a complete lack of understanding of their jobs. It was an abomination that stains the reputation and credibility of talented, well-trained law enforcement officers throughout the country. It also adds to the danger these honorable men and women face, because the populace is increasingly afraid of their unfit brethren.
He also makes the similar point about the militarization we have been hearing in other reports:
While this might seem like a “boys with toys” problem—cops playing dress-up as they search for their inner G.I. Joe—it’s really about bad law enforcement tactics. One thing sometimes forgotten is that there are decades of research on policing tactics, and competent officers and their bosses rely on this research to guide them because they are want to maintain law and order, instead of just pretending the movie RoboCop was a documentary. Research shows that militarization rarely works, and usually makes things worse.
However, the piece then discusses plenty of facts and figures about this point: the growth of SWAT teams that don't have enough to do, and so they are used to serve warrants and other non-SWAT stuff. That results in lots of people getting hurt for no reason: As of 2007, there were 275 botched SWAT raids, with minorities being injured in 54 percent of them.
What is most amazing in this piece, though, are the cops who are quoted. Their criticism of the militarization is amazingly strong. "Quite frankly,’’ one sherif who disbanded a SWAT team said, “they get excited about dressing up in black and doing that kind of thing.” Another is quotes as saying "“Officers must avoid donning the hard gear as a first step...Experience shows that dialogue is invaluable.”
There are lots of statistics I knew nothing about and tactical analyses, involving things like the Elaborated Social Identity Model and examples of violence in a number of cities. (The worst in Albuquerque where cops tazered a guy because he poured gasoline on himself, which set him on fire.)
Read the piece. It's great.