Militarizing the Streets of America

by Meredith Anderson, WAMM

The process of militarizing the streets of America has not been a sudden occurrence, but rather a neck-and-neck battle between civilians and police for decades. The irony of this battle is made more clear by the cold war that encompasses it.

Some civilians, with the aid of lax gun policies and a little money, have accumulated massive arsenals of fire power over the past decade--fire power with unprecedented capacity. Meanwhile, police departments across America have become increasingly militarized.

In November of 1993, Janet Reno invited military contractors, intelligence officials, and members of the defense council to band together in a five-year partnership which, above all, encouraged them to aid police departments across America in combating civilians with masses of weaponry. The concept of fighting fire with fire caught on quickly. Between 1995 and 1996, police departments received grenade launchers, military equipment, and enacted SWAT teams.

In addition to weapons and gun power, law enforcement is also being militarized mentally through virtual reality training programs similar to, and oftentimes the same as, the programs used by the military to increase the kill rate in combat situations.

In February of 1999, the Pentagon urged President Clinton to appoint a military chief to the continental U.S. The plan required that said individual would order doctors and emergency personnel to areas of crisis. This role is similar to that of U.S. commanders abroad. Such domestic military power can swiftly develop into a threat to civilian privacy and only continues the trend of putting crucial power into the hands of one military agent.

The war against drugs and crime has swiftly evolved from military mentality and projects an image of violence into even the most secured areas of our society. A few probable causes for this mentality stem from the economic changes in U.S. cities and the surge of bigger cities trying to promote an image of safety for their citizens. As reported on a National Radio Project Making Contact, "ridding the city of any visual sign of poverty is priority number one" in order to keep the big businesses, corporations, and industry there.

This notion of "whipping cities into shape" has roots in post World War II policies when American economic dominance required the existence of said businesses. The nation, therefore, restructured its social facade in order to make it appear more appealing. This mentality has prompted the painfully obvious disparity between how the rich and poor have been treated by the city authorities.

Such a phenomenon is present today in the city of Fresno, California. Beginning in 1997, Fresno adopted a prominent military regime into its streets. The newly instituted police-force-turned- SWAT-team, under the command of Sgt. Wade Engelson, march through Fresno streets in fatigues and buzz cuts, armed with chemical agents and automatic submachine guns that, until recently, were only used by the Navy Seals.

Their purpose is to be menacing and, according to the citizens of Fresno, they complete their mission well. They have spit the notion of police serving as public servants back into the faces of the people and have invaded their parks and streets with armored personnel carriers and ballistic shields and helmets.

One of their main goals as a militarized police force is to accomplish what any other police force would be capable of doing: gang suppression. Their prominence within the city, if intended to make the people feel safe, has achieved precisely the opposite, with "high risk warrant work," including "no-knock entries."

Of course, organizations such as the expanding SWAT teams in Fresno have popped up all over the nation. To add to the pessimistic outlook, studies have shown that throughout America, police violence against citizens has singled out minorities to an alarming rate. Events such as the February 5, 1999, incident when Amadou Diallo was shot at 41 times by police officers (who claim to have wrongly suspected he was pulling a weapon) demonstrate that racism is a factor in police brutality.

If violence among citizens in the streets is rising, does it make sense to contribute to the chaos? What good does a mobile army marching through the streets of your average neighborhood do for the citizens? History has dictated time and again that the average citizen does not prosper within a military regime, but it seems that the blood on its sidewalks have tainted America's rational canvas.

WORD UP!

"Amadou Diallo was "served" by the state, and his name has now become a dark example of the paramilitarism of police power; the deadly wages of the so-called 'oops factor.'"

--Mumia Abu-Jamal in "Public Servants or Paid Predators?"