Rhetorical question: ∺re cops constitutional? Although he says that here has 336).īalko prefaces his accessible history of early American policing with a provocative We might forgive someoneįor concluding differently based on the frightening erosion of due process rights andĪmplification of state power Balko documents, although he is correct that it wouldīe foolish to wait until it becomes to get concerned (p.

His newest book carries immense potency, page after page delivering incisive andĮnraging indictments of modern law enforcement trends. His reporting on policeĪbuses helped save a man from death row and never ceases to raise blood pressures. Warrior Cop: The Militarization of Americas Police Forces. Journalist Radley Balko provides some of this valuable history in Rise of the Bushs war on terror, but recent news hasīegun to awaken Americans across the spectrum to the danger posed by cops. Their criticisms subsided during George W. The right that federal law enforcement was becoming militaristic and excessively violent.

Conservatives favored stronger police powers through theġ980s in the next decade, disasters such as Ruby Ridge and Waco convinced many on Left radicals in the 1960sĭecried their militarism. There exists no broad coalition critiquing domestic police. Single Issues of The Independent Review.Podcast: Independent Outlook / Conversations.International Economics and Development.His fascinating, frightening narrative that spans from America's earliest days through today shows how a creeping battlefield mentality has isolated and alienated American police officers and put them on a collision course with the values of a free society. In Rise of the Warrior Cop, Balko shows how politicians' ill-considered policies and relentless declarations of war against vague enemies like crime, drugs, and terror have blurred the distinction between cop and soldier.

The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as enemies. But over the last two centuries, America's cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement. The last days of colonialism taught America's revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. Newly added material brings the story through 2020, including analysis of the Ferguson protests, the Obama and Trump administrations, and the George Floyd protests. This groundbreaking history of how American police forces have been militarized is now revised and updated.

Rise of the warrior cop