SR: You also testified that the growth of paramilitary policing is tied to outsourced training—where private contractors impart this battle-ready mindset. Do you think highway patrols and sheriffs would not be looking for cash and seizing it were it not for these private-sector consultants training cops to do this? PK: What a dark example of the neoliberal turn in American governance: Private companies being hired by the government to train police how to work at the margins of the law to confiscate people’s private assets so that the police departments can generate their own slush funds outside taxpayer dollars. A very important untold story in American policing today is the role that for-profit training vendors play in negatively influencing police culture. They exploit the understandable fear of victimization that police have always had to deal with—and push a survivalist warrior mindset where all encounters with the public might be lethal. They also exploit the natural tendency of bureaucracies to expand through any means possible, even if that includes engaging in highly questionable asset forfeiture practices. What these vendors don’t seem to care about, or understand, is the significant blowback the police are inevitably going to receive from the people that they are ostensibly serving. The militarized, security-conscious, and growth complex ideology leads to disastrous consequences not only for marginalized people, but also the police themselves. In saying this, though, I do think the toothpaste has left the tube—and getting it back in will be exceedingly difficult if not impossible.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:13:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015