Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces

The last days of colonialism taught America’s revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement. But over the last two centuries, America’s cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. 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.
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. 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.

• FYI –>
  • bsky .app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social/post/3lu3snqwcek2j (‘ 👂Radley Balko is always worth reading 👉 Quaint disputes about the proper role of police and military have been superseded by a more urgent threat: Donald Trump is creating his own, personal paramilitary force. Jul 15, 2025 via Garry Kasparov ‘)
  • facebook .com/photo/?fbid=10161048938327027 (‘ New at The Watch: State medical examiners wrongly excused homicides committed by Maryland police officers After the Derek Chauvin trial, the state ordered an audit of autopsies done on people who had died in police custody. The results are disturbing. ‘)
  • cato .org/blog/50-venezuelans-imprisoned-el-salvador-came-us-legally-never-violated-immigration-law (‘ via F-@radley.balko : A Cato review finds that at least 50 of the 200+ Venezuelans sent to CECOT in El Salvador came to the U.S. *legally* and violated no immigration laws. Other reviews have found that 90 percent or more of those sent to CECOT had no prior criminal record. We now know that a substantial number of them had no immigration violations, either. Yet they were swept up, put on a plane, and sent to what is effectively a forced labor/concentration camp… ‘)
  • www.theunpopulist .net (‘ Andy Craig : …Americans must prepare for a period of uncertain, chaotic governance—a time when authority is no longer derived from constitutional structure but from the volatile balance of brute force and popular support. There will be no day when a switch is flipped and the pieces all fit back together as they used to. The future of our system of government is what we make of it. via Radley Balko ‘)
  • bsky .app/profile/apothcarysees.bsky.social/post/3lurfs6hkjc2u (‘ So far there have been 5 suicides by National Guard members at the border; lack of mission, horrible living conditions, separation from families, pay problems. At least 17 deaths. ‘)
  • bsky .app/profile/darrigomelanie.bsky.social/post/3luuomsi5mc2p (‘ Melanie D’Arrigo : The criminal felon Trump can’t legally deploy the military on US soil. His budget bill gives $30B to 👂ICE to hire 10,000 more masked, armed agents to be deployed in our communities. He’s building a domestic military accountable only to him. This isn’t about immigration. It’s authoritarianism. via @cwebbonline. July 26, 2025 ‘)
  • bsky .app/profile/garrykasparov.bsky.social/post/3luuw4bsjqs27 (‘👂Garry Kasparov : 1-Masih was targeted for assassination by Iranian agents in New York City for her prominent women’s rights campaigns against the Islamic State. Today, if masked men jumped out of an unmarked van and grabbed her, would you call the police or is that the secret police? We must all be dissidents now. 2-The new episode of Autocracy in America is out and my guest is the remarkable Masih Alinejad, a fierce fighter for rights and democracy in Iran who can help Americans stop taking their own rights and democracy for granted and fight to defend them. July 26-07-2025 ‘)

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