The Risks of Operational Militarization: Increased Conflict Against Militarized Police

Carriere Kevin R. () and Encinosa William
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Carriere Kevin R.: Georgetown University, Department of Psychology, Washington, DC, 20057, United States of America, Phone: 401-644-8040
Encinosa William: Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy, Washington, DC 20057, United States of America

Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, 2017, vol. 23, issue 3, 13

Abstract: The current state of race relations in the United States have brought to light the issue of the militarization of local police, where officers are being provided with unused equipment from the government’s war chest through the 1033 Program. But, is this increase in militarization beneficial, or does it harm relations between citizens and police? Using data on purchases provided by the Defense Logistics Agency, this paper analyzes effects of military purchases on assaults on police officers. Fixed effects negative binomial regressions on state-month level data show that stockpiling of material militarization equipment (guns, armor, and clothing) exhibits a statistically significant decrease in assaults, with guns showing no significant relation on assaults. However, operational militarization purchases (surveillance, sonar, and radar) lead to an increase of assaults, suggesting that there may be unforeseen consequences of increased militarization due to a change of structure and information gathering.

Keywords: assaults on police; material militarization; operational militarization; soft policing; Velcro effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1515/peps-2017-0016

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