Anthony Douglas

ENGL 118, TR 12:40

An Annotated Bibliography for Police Militarization

Author Unknown. The Pros and Cons of Militarizing the Police. The Onion 12 Aug. 2014.
Web. 12 Oct. 2014. This short article offers
pros and cons of increasing police militarization, using satire to support their side in the
debate, which is clearly against police militarization on the stase of quality whether or
not whether or not police militarization is good. They list ridiculous pros (eg. Look on
drivers face when tank pulls up beside Mini Cooper always fun) to make the point that
there is no logical reason to support police militarization.
Chokshi, Niraj and Sarah Larimer. Senators criticize police militarization as frustrations aired in
Ferguson. The Washington Post 9 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2014. This article describes
political action being taken against police militarization and to make positive changes to
Fergusons court system in order to stop it from unfairly affect[ing] residents who live in
poverty. This article is against police militarization on the stases of quality and policy
what should be done about a current situation. In support of this it shows examples of
unnecessary police militarization, one being that 13 local law enforcement agencies with
fewer than ten sworn, full-time officers were given Mine-Resistant Armor-Protected
vehicles when they clearly werent/arent in need of them.
Fairburn, Richard. Why cops carry guns. Policeone.com 21 Jul. 2008. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. This
article written by Richard Fairburn, an over 30-year veteran in law enforcement, argues in
support of police militarization by explaining benefits of being armed and possible risks
of not being armed properly as a law enforcement officer and that if one has the right
mindset and the right training, they can properly wield deadly force in a way that helps
them stop crime while not hurting innocent civilians. In this way the article argues on
quality.
Hennessy-Fiske, Molly and Rubin, Joel and Winton, Richard. Police worry about their own
safety after killings: Its a different world. Los Angeles Times 31 Aug. 2015. Web. 12
Oct. 2015. This article examines the issue of police militarization through the eyes of
several police veterans who have been afraid of their own safety after 25 officers were
killed in assaults from the beginning of the year to the writing of the article, seemingly
connected to an attitude of an animosity towards police officers. These examples are
meant to show that police militarization is necessary to reduce these deaths, arguing in
support of its quality and perhaps even policy, depending on ones interpretation.

Paul, Rand. Rand Paul: We Must Demilitarize the Police. Time 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 12 Oct.
2015. In this article Paul sides against police militarization on the stases of quality and
policy, arguing that it is growing because of an unprecedented expansion of government
power in this realm and that it is bad because it takes away from citizens liberty as well
as puts them in harms way.
Wofford, Taylor. Tanks for Nothing: Why Obamas Plan to End Police Militarization May Be
Dead in the Water; President Obama has vowed to demilitarize police. Get ready for a
long war. Newsweek 164.24 19 June 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. Wofford gives examples
of unnecessary use of weapons given to them by the federal government leading to deaths
of citizens in order to argue against police militarization on the stase of quality.