Of greater concern is the downside of having a militarized police force trained more for warfare than neighborhood policing.
Given the history of Kenya's response to political dissension, it is more probable than not that the mayhem and death that has erupted during the protests have been a direct result of the highly politicized, now-militarized and poorly trained law enforcement apparatus.
Or is this a function of training, part of the militarized "warrior mind-set" that has seeped into modern policing?
We should also be realistic about the ability of training to solve the problem of militarized policing.
Harrington not to mention plenty of civil liberties advocates disagrees. "Most of the training that's available to police departments is on the full militarized approach, [where you] send your folks out in riot gear and have them do whatever they have to do," she said.
In another sign that the drug war in Latin America is taking on a more militarized dimension president Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua has provided Moscow with a base to train Latin armed forces and police in drug interdiction and other tactics.
Upon investigation and a Freedom of Information request, the members of Chicago Veterans for Peace found that Chicago Public Schools is the most militarized school system in the world with over 10,000 children receiving some form of military training, at a cost of over $17 million/year.
They then shared a vehicle from Mizoram to Guwahati, Assam, and caught a train to the Indian capital, fleeing persecution and impoverishment in their heavily militarized homeland.
Militarized police units bear various names, such as special weapons and tactics teams (SWAT teams), but their methods of training and operation, as well as their equipment and firepower, are similar.
These include appropriate training, community resources, and policies to enforce the law through community-centered approaches, rather than through the militarized tactics that we see far too often in civilian neighborhoods of color.
