Warrior Cops
When Ferguson, Missouri erupted into violence, the entire country was suddenly exposed to the questionable state of race relations in the United States. But the ensuing weeks of rioting exposed the public to more than the anger surrounding Michael Brown's controversial death, it revealed the shocking extent of police militarization. Rows of heavily armed officers and armored vehicles facing off with protestors on the streets of suburbia were testaments to decades of policy and public attitudes that allowed such a radical erosion of the once well-defined distinction between police and military, blue and camouflage, cruiser and MRAP. This blurring between these two separate institutions is not a novel phenomena, but a gradual transformation that has led to a host of questions on its underlying ethics and often fatal consequences. This site intends to clarify the progression of contemporary police militarization in the United States and, to a smaller extent, address some of the repercussions of remodeling our "men in blue" after an organization designed for the sole purpose of eliminating the nation's enemies with lethal force.