Local police forces have become more militarized since Sept. 11, 2001

American police departments have become increasingly militarized over the past 10 years since the "war on terror" began, report Arthur Rizer and Joseph Hartman of The Atlantic. Local police have purchased military equipment, adopted military training and sought to "inculcate a 'soldier's mentality' among their ranks," and all in the name of fighting terrorism. Rizer and Hartman write that police are tasked with "keeping the peace," but those duties are blurred when they start behaving like soldiers. (Reuters photo by Danny Moloshok)

Before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, military-like Special Weapons and Tactics teams only existed in large cities and were used sparingly. Now, almost every local police force has a SWAT team and employs it for "everyday patrolling" and tasks as small as serving search warrants. "To assist them in deploying this new weaponry," Rizer and Hartman report "police departments have also sought and received extensive military training and tactical instruction," with most members of local SWAT teams being trained by the U.S. special operations commandos.

Former Seattle Police Department chief Norm Stamper writes on AlterNet that the militarization of local police forces is a result of not only increased counterterrorism tactics, but also of the decades-old war on drugs. Stamper writes: "There are more than 50,000 police paramilitary raids in the United States each year – more than 130 every day. Virtually all are for prosecution of drug warrants, the vast majority involving marijuana. Many jurisdictions use SWAT teams for execution of every search warrant for drugs."

Rizer and Hartman report "the most serious consequence of the rapid militarization of American police forces is the subtle evolution in the mentality of the 'men in blue' from 'peace officer' to soldier," which they classify as an "absolutely critical" development in a fundamental change in the nature of law enforcement. Stamper writes that a growing minority of cops are starting to "realize the harm these tactics have done to the people they’ve been hired to serve, the risks to their own safety and wellbeing, and the erosion of public confidence and respect for law enforcement."