The "Rise of the Warrior Cop"

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by friendorfoe, Jul 29, 2013.

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  1. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    Great article on the militarization of modern police. I would like to hear ya'lls thoughts on this.
    Rise of the Warrior Cop - WSJ.com

    ("ya'll" is common Texas vernacular for "you all" or "youse guys" for you New Englanders) :)
     
  2. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    It's all part of the war on "some" drugs. "When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away", unless of course you have some of God's plant's in your basement then it's apparently time to recreate the OBL raid.
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I've come to think that the militarization of police, turning them from peace officers into occupiers, is the single most important issue in the U.S. today. I saw this book's author, Radley Balko, give a presentation on this issue just last week, and it's scary, scary stuff.
     
  4. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    Hey, the Department of Education apparently has access to (or its own) SWAT team for raids on people's houses. Now, which side can I blame this on? I need to point the finger at some "other".
     
  5. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    It's certainly up there. Kind of turning Posse Comitatus on its head. If you can't outright build a federal occupying army, you can train and fund locals to do it for you. Cynical I know.
     
  6. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    As a Southerner who spent several years in New England, I believe "youse guys" is more a NY/NJ/Philadelphia thing than a New England thing (unless you're in the Italian neighborhoods of Boston or Providence)
     
  7. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    Ah...gotcha. I generally avoid anything north of the Georiga as a general rule of thumb unless I'm being paid to be there. :D
     
  8. Petedude

    Petedude New Member

    You're misspelling the term. . . it's "y'all" :D
     
  9. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    Now see, I've seen it both ways. I think you can go with either or.
     
  10. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I used to spell it wrong. Now, I know why it's spelled one way. Y'all is a contraction of "you" and "all." So, the apostrophe has to go after the "y" in order to keep "all" together. An apostrophe before "ll" is usually done when a word is contracted with "will." Writing "ya'll" is like writing "yo'ure." You're splitting up the full word in the contraction. The apostrophe is supposed to go before or after the shortened word kind of like writing nothin'. There are a lot of words that people commonly spell wrong.
     
  11. ebbwvale

    ebbwvale Member

    This is not a US thing alone. Police around the world are starting to mirror the military. I have seen it in the changes in uniforms in my home state where the dress is decidedly more military than ever before. There is also a shift to webbing more than belt attachments that gives it a more military appearance. It is all understandable as police have to respond to more incidents that require more a military style response than the usual policing scenario.

    The problem is that the police were formed to present a "civil service style" response and take away the use of the military style force in civil interactions in the first place. Policing has to be consensual and politically orientated for public acceptance. The power of persuasion is the greatest policing power with coercion running a poor second. Building "bridges" into communities has great outcomes (just in intelligence alone) but it is costly and time consuming and it does not get the same "star" quality results in performance reviews that arrests do.

    The simple understanding that the public need a "buy in" with the police escapes the administrators with an accounting style approach. You do need to be able to respond effectively to a high level threat, but you also need the capability and community support to keep these threat levels low. Symbolism in uniforms and response techniques can be useful and a detriment. The wisdom is knowing when.
     
  12. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    And here I thought ya'll meant ya will or ya shall.
     
  13. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    This topic reminds me of a psychology article I read a couple of years ago about how people perceive police uniforms of different colors. I'm trying to remember correctly what it said. I know that it said something about navy blue and black having the disadvantage of being seen as the most intimidating, but also garnering the most compliance or respect from citizens. Lighter colors such as gray, white, tan, or light blue make police officers look more friendly and citizens less hostile to them, but people were also less likely to respect their authority.

    I've never been a police officer, but I wore police-style uniforms as a security officer. I've noticed that more police departments and security companies are changing to navy blue and black uniforms. They want the LAPD look. Well....LAPD doesn't have the best reputation, but their uniforms are seen as being sharp. When I wore a white shirt, people saw me as a rent-a-cop. When I wore a midnight blue or black uniform, people would tell their kids "you better behave or the police officer is going to get you." Employees would offer me free stuff at convenience stores because they said my uniform was a deterrent to robbers, people around my apartment complex would compliment me on the way I looked, and travelers would ask me for directions. All around, people would listen to me more. Of course, this doesn't always bode well when you encounter someone who despises the police and authority figures in general.

    One company I worked for switched to BDU pants for comfort. Now, that is military-style. However, our shirts looked like EMT shirts, so the only thing that made us recognizable as security officers was the weapons on our belts. I think the military-style uniforms might be the next new trend 10 years from now. I already saw one security company with full BDU uniforms. I'm even seeing SAPD officers wearing BDU pants with police-style shirts, but I think it's more for comfort and utility. My local police department used to wear light blue shirts, and they changed to dark blue. Just about everyone says the dark blue uniforms look better. The downside is that it's hot here, and dark colors attract more heat.

    Here is an article about a uniform change in Corpus Christi, TX.

    Bolder shade of blue for cops? » Corpus Christi Caller-Times

    Many officers outside of SWAT and other special forces are now receiving military-style training after the wave of mass shootings in the media. I had to take an active shooter course. Of course, we now have one side asking for police and armed guards in schools while the other side thinks it would create a prison-like environment.

    Another company I worked for made us wear the state trooper-style hats. They called them lawman hats. This article discusses not only how the public perceives uniform colors, but also styles of hats.
    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Psychological+Influence+of+the+Police+Uniform.-a073845616
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 31, 2013
  14. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    I believe this to be true. When I first started working in law enforcement our uniform was dark blue slacks with a black stripe, white starched shirts, gold badge and polished leather gear. At the time I hated it, thinking it made us look like mall cops but I think the idea was to actually match the uniform of the U.S. Capital Police. Anywhoo...we switched to LAPD blues, with black only undershirts, dull black gear, we changed our head gear from the traditional "round tops" to black campaign hats (think drill sergeant) and we were "coached" not to be overly friendly (not kidding here). The image of our department changed almost overnight and certainly the psychology did. This had a profound impact upon how the public interacted with us...some were more compliant (most were actually) but they were usually the ones who wouldn't have been a problem to begin with. Others...well, let's just say I believe the uniform can assist in actually escalating a situation rather than help.
     

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