In the wake of Mr George Floyd's death, Americans were taken aback by armour-plated vehicles designed to withstand landmines rolling down the main streets of their cities, as police officers decked out in full riot gear kept an eye on, and sometimes clashed with, protesters.
As of this year, US$7.4 billion worth of military equipment had been transferred to local law enforcement agencies, ranging from mundane items like first aid kits and flashlights to tactical vehicles and small arms. In a 2017 paper - Militarisation And Police Violence: The Case Of The 1033 Programme - researchers showed that when cops get more military weapons, vehicles and tools, they use more military language, create elite units like SWAT teams, and become more likely to jump into high-risk situations.
Minorities suffer disproportionately from heavily-armed police primed to resort to violence. Mapping Police Violence, a research and advocacy group, has found that a black person is 2½ times more likely to be killed by a cop than a white person.
That’s the only way to stop uncivilised, ugly protestors.
Police are militarized in the U.S, because our criminals are militarized.
The militarizing turns the Police into a pseudo military unit usually a SWAT Team are ex-military personal Its been civilian up to late 1980's then the hiring of ex-military started to take place LAPD Chief Daryl Gates was the first to insitute SWAT in the 1970's.
It's never been good with African Americans and police, but after 9/11 the American police began looking at it's POC citizens as battlefield combatants, and they were given weapons of war to carry on the fight. The consequences are apparent.