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Are SWAT Teams Paramilitary?: SWAT Uses Military Tactics |
| Section: CURRENT ISSUES / COMMENTARY |
| Author: Diane C. Weber |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/2000 |
| Size: 1,517 Words, 9,719 Characters |
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Starting in 1981, a series of executive and congressional actions drafted the military into the "drug war." The nation's armed forces were ordered to assist federal, state, and local police agencies in counterdrug activities, and this meant providing equipment, facilities, training, and intelligence to civilian law enforcement.
Over the years, the military influence has become tangible and has filtered down into even the smallest police departments. Civilian police--more specifically, special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams--have adopted the tactics and mind-set of the military. Some consequences of this development have been the deaths of innocent individuals, and, as SWAT teams broaden their mission, these deaths are likely to continue. But even when deaths do not occur (which may be the case most of the time), one must ask if the SWAT modus operandi--the quick, violent military-style confrontation--is appropriate police behavior in a civil society.
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...the Declaration of Independence and a major issue in the writing of the Constitution.
As SWAT teams adopt the ways and means of their military mentors and become normalized in police departments, we need to ask ourselves, what are the unintended consequences? Do machine guns and flash-bang grenades have a place in civil society? If an innocent bystander is killed, who will pay the penalty?
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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