Demilitarization of Police during War Period Essay

Demilitarization of Police during War Period - Essay Example Having followed keenly the events that occurred in Ferguson after the brutal shooting of the innocent Michael Brown, it dawned on me that the concept of the militarization of the police should be rethought. Therefore, I fully concur with Senator Paul Rand for advocating for the demilitarization in his article dubbed ‘We Must Demilitarize the Police.’ I would like to begin by strongly condemning the tendency of heavily armed police officers across the country. It is a high time the American nation become a peaceful and orderly place to live in. As Senator Rand exclaims, it is not justified to arm the police officers with crude weapons like M14, Kevlar Vests, shotguns, Helmets, M16a, pistols, armored trucks, camouflage, rifle assemblies, automatic rifles, rifle conversion kits, magazine cartridges, mine-resistant vehicles, tear gas and military shirts (Kraska, 2000). To anyone who knows the peace process, these are not weapons to be used for the protection of the citizens. By availing them to the police force, it means that the government is having ill intentions that it is hiding. Therefore, I support the senator for fiercely condemning such acts and advocating for the demilitarization process. The action of the police officers in Ferguson demonstrated how harmful and destructive the militarized police force can be. Even if people were demonstrating to protest the death of Brown, it was not fair for them to be mishandled by the militarized police officers who were obviously not interested in protecting, but terrorizing them. By carrying such crude weapons and cordoning off the remote areas of Ferguson, it is arguable that the police were not considering these people should be offered any protection. Instead, it seems that they had declared them as people to be occupied. Thus, their plea for surrender and retreat could not yield many fruits. So, as the senator puts it, the attack on harmless citizens who were merely expressing their  fury over the death of one of their own was a sign of bad police force.