The Expansion of Law Enforcement American policing systems today seem organized and strict to the point where many people have criticized the police for excessive militarization. The arsenals found in some police departments are often excessive, expensive, and unneeded. Those police forces are akin to the standing armies that our founding fathers feared. In England, it was common practice for criminals to be pardoned in exchange for military service. Often, these criminals were quartered in houses without the owner’s consent. This was banned in 1689 by the signing of the Bill of Rights by William of Orange (Fitzgerald 12). The creators of the Bill of Rights shared these sentiments. Fresh out of the Revolutionary War, the Third Amendment
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The position of “police officer” was a political position, and factors such as skill, aptitude, and behavior was not considered. Instead, political bosses incentivized voting for their group in elections in exchange for the promise of jobs for their supporters. Frequently, mass firings completely replaced police forces during exchanges of power, and the ethnicity in charge of the city represented the majority of the police force even if they were the minority in the town. The lack of standards and training also stimulated police discretion in enforcing laws. However, some people considered this process democratic, and it was generally seen as a positive by the reformers of the police system, the Progressives (Balko …show more content…
Marquette Frye, an African American, was pulled over by white officer Lee Minikus and administered a field sobriety test. Upon the arrival of his mother and brother, the incident escalated until riots gripped the city. Appalled at the inability of his department, Gates’ actions would change the culture of American policing. He created the first SWAT team (Balko 53). Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams are a quasi-military force created as a response to the sentiment that American cities were spilling with crime. The first SWAT teams trained directly with the marines and used automatic rifles (Balko 63). Events such as the first SWAT raid in history on a Black Panther headquarter further reinforced and justified the arming of police. SWAT teams are the most recent developments of the history of police expansion and militarization. The modern police forces have grown to the point where they are analogous to standing
The position of “police officer” was a political position, and factors such as skill, aptitude, and behavior was not considered. Instead, political bosses incentivized voting for their group in elections in exchange for the promise of jobs for their supporters. Frequently, mass firings completely replaced police forces during exchanges of power, and the ethnicity in charge of the city represented the majority of the police force even if they were the minority in the town. The lack of standards and training also stimulated police discretion in enforcing laws. However, some people considered this process democratic, and it was generally seen as a positive by the reformers of the police system, the Progressives (Balko …show more content…
Marquette Frye, an African American, was pulled over by white officer Lee Minikus and administered a field sobriety test. Upon the arrival of his mother and brother, the incident escalated until riots gripped the city. Appalled at the inability of his department, Gates’ actions would change the culture of American policing. He created the first SWAT team (Balko 53). Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams are a quasi-military force created as a response to the sentiment that American cities were spilling with crime. The first SWAT teams trained directly with the marines and used automatic rifles (Balko 63). Events such as the first SWAT raid in history on a Black Panther headquarter further reinforced and justified the arming of police. SWAT teams are the most recent developments of the history of police expansion and militarization. The modern police forces have grown to the point where they are analogous to standing