militarizationandpolicing—itsrelevanceto21stcenturypolice.pdf

Policing Advance Access published December 13, 2007 1 Article Militarization and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police Peter B. Kraska∗ Abstract This work examines the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement. In this article, the author asserts that understanding this blur, and the associated organizing concepts militarization and militarism, are essential for accurately analyzing the changing nature of security, and the activity of policing, in the late-modern era of the 21st century. Simplicity is comforting. Modernity’s basic to clearly demarcate the two is usually seen dichotomies such as fact/value, private/public, as an indicator of repressiveness and lack of and national/international simplify our think- democracy. ing and lull us into intellectual complacency. My research and writing has been challeng- Police academics in the United States, with ing this dichotomy since the late 1980s. Its only a few exceptions, have been quite com- central thesis has remained steadfast, and may fortable with the military/police dichotomy. be viewed at this point in history as an obvious The US military handles external security point to the keenly observant: we have been through the threat and practice of war. The witnesses to a little noticed but nonetheless civilian police handle internal security through t