How Militarization Has Transformed America’s Police—For the Worse

Economist Olugbenga Ajilore shows the high cost of the American government’s arming of local police with military weapons, which has exacerbated lethal use-of force against black communities Giving police military weapons doesn’t make anyone safer, argues Toledo University’s Olugbenga Ajilore. It just makes police treat people more like enemy combatants than co-members of the community. Ajilore discusses the extensive social costs of the increased acquisition of military style-weapons by local law enforcement agencies in the U.S., which has accelerated over the past 10 years, as federal programs have granted access to surplus military items for combating terrorism and drug activity. He cites his research examining the impacts of increased police militarization—including more frequent use of lethal force, and the disproportionate effects on ethnically-fragmented communities.