The literature I will be focusing on in my analysis is Seth Stoughton’s “Law Enforcement’s ‘Warrior’ Problem”, published in the Harvard Law Review journal on 10 April 2015. Stoughton explains how he believes policing is currently done. Which is with a “warrior” mentality that officers are trained to have and how that mentality negativity shapes how the police view, and interact with, civilians by making the officer view everyone as a threat and ensuring the officer requires unchallenged dominance and respect in every interaction. Stoughton says this has created a divide between police and civilians, which is detrimental to the safety of both police officers and civilians. Stoughton explains how he believes policing should be done, with a “guardian”
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Based on his word choice, he is clearly trying to, and I would say effectively, emphasizing the downside of that training and behavior. Summarized by Stoughton, the warrior mindset or mentality that is instilled in officers is, at its core, the attitude that soldiers and officers are taught to have in life-threatening situations. “The warrior mindset refers to a bone-deep commitment to survive a bad situation no matter the odds or difficulty, to not give up even when it is mentally and physically easier to do so” (Stoughton 226). In that core definition, the warrior mindset does not appear to be a problem, but Stoughton says that officers are taught to use the warrior attitude, which should be used in the most dangerous situations, as a mentality that continuously applies to every aspect of their job, with negative consequences. He uses dramatic quotes from police publications and training documents to effectively demonstrate this, with the training documents in particular carrying a lot of rhetorical force considering they are official documents. Recruits are told “You could die today, tomorrow, or next Friday” (Garcia qtd. in Stoughton 227). Stoughton believes all of this training combines to make officers believe they are in combat with unknown enemies who will kill them and this makes officers become afraid. Stoughton quotes an article to make his point, “Remain humble and …show more content…
By stating there’s a growing chorus of people calling for this change, some of his intended audience may be more likely to listen since they get the perception that it is not only Stoughton who believe the guardian mentality is a good idea. His solution of a guardian mentality is similar to the warrior mentality in that they both seek to protect their communities, but the guardian mindset takes a broader and longer view of how to achieve this, he says (231). He explains the guardian mentality encourages interactions that are not just legally justified, but fair, respectful and considerate. And patience and restraint when possible in use-of-force situations over control
Based on his word choice, he is clearly trying to, and I would say effectively, emphasizing the downside of that training and behavior. Summarized by Stoughton, the warrior mindset or mentality that is instilled in officers is, at its core, the attitude that soldiers and officers are taught to have in life-threatening situations. “The warrior mindset refers to a bone-deep commitment to survive a bad situation no matter the odds or difficulty, to not give up even when it is mentally and physically easier to do so” (Stoughton 226). In that core definition, the warrior mindset does not appear to be a problem, but Stoughton says that officers are taught to use the warrior attitude, which should be used in the most dangerous situations, as a mentality that continuously applies to every aspect of their job, with negative consequences. He uses dramatic quotes from police publications and training documents to effectively demonstrate this, with the training documents in particular carrying a lot of rhetorical force considering they are official documents. Recruits are told “You could die today, tomorrow, or next Friday” (Garcia qtd. in Stoughton 227). Stoughton believes all of this training combines to make officers believe they are in combat with unknown enemies who will kill them and this makes officers become afraid. Stoughton quotes an article to make his point, “Remain humble and …show more content…
By stating there’s a growing chorus of people calling for this change, some of his intended audience may be more likely to listen since they get the perception that it is not only Stoughton who believe the guardian mentality is a good idea. His solution of a guardian mentality is similar to the warrior mentality in that they both seek to protect their communities, but the guardian mindset takes a broader and longer view of how to achieve this, he says (231). He explains the guardian mentality encourages interactions that are not just legally justified, but fair, respectful and considerate. And patience and restraint when possible in use-of-force situations over control