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Mason Harrington
June 2nd, 2016
Benjamin Craig
Work of Art Research Paper

The Militarization of American Police Forces: a

Balance of Freedom and Safety
Today the worlds population is larger than it has ever been, and is
projected to continue to increase. America, historically has a love-hate
relationship with authority. On one side, the country was partially founded on
escaping authority on the grounds of liberty. However, society urns to
conform and find structure. Since Eisenhowers waring of the military
industrial complex in his farewell speech, Americas spending has skyrocketed
to a discretionary budget of 1.11 trillion dollars in 2015 (OMB). Many people
in urban areas live in poverty and lack access to adequate resources.
Funding for schooling has been reduced so much, many schools do not
operate like they should.
Americas police forces look much different than they did 50 years ago.
The traditional image of a cop in blue uniform assisting their community has
morphed into one of riot gear and armored vehicles. Overtime, efforts to
combat social ills such as drug use and terrorism have enlarged government
operations to a scale unseen before. Policies and programs have been put in

place that transfer military style gear from federal military forces, granting
them to local police agencies. The problem of police militarization in America
today can be resolved with relocating funds from police to primary arts
education. Reducing funding and abolishing programs such as 1022 and
1133 will reduce police activity and in turn reduce the possibility for
misconduct. Abolishing these programs also solves the problem of lack of
oversight in these departments.
Many cities experience poverty on a massive scale. Cities where
industry once fueled their local economies may have dissolved or moved
overseas. What is left in many cases is a crippling infrastructure, and many
people stuck in their hometown with little to no economic opportunity. When
people are confined to a geographic location and also under a stress such as
economic oppression, it results in out-lashes such as crime. When people
have no other route to take to be prosperous than illegal activity, crime is a
given.

Many urban people have limited access to welfare such as affordable and
decent housing, healthcare, and public education (Meeks). In cities like
Chicago where unemployment is 6.6% and have a crippling infrastructure, it
is common for urban people, especially urban youth to feel they are trapped
with no promising routes for success (Julka). In these instances a rise of
criminal activity occurs. As crime increases in these urban area, support for

increasing police involvement goes up. This is especially true with the
surrounding suburban areas. The negative societal impacts of the urban poor
are not proportional to the social impacts of police policies and militarization.
State efforts to combat the ills of crime have resulted in more harm than
otherwise. The counter drug and terrorism efforts exacerbate the damage
these people deal with.
Beginning with the Regan administration, and continuing with Bushs
declaration of the war on drugs in 1994, the US Department of Justices
spending has drastically increased. Between 1971 and 1989 federal funding
for law enforcement increased annually from 4 million to 19 million, while
funding for welfare only doubled from 3 million to 6 million (Meeks). Over this
19 year period law enforcement funding quadrupled, while welfare funding
only doubled.
With technological advances and increasing access to the internet, the
public are able to communicate and share information like never before.
According to the 2013 US census, 92.5% of people ages 35-44 years of age
own personal computers and have internet access (File). Given the vast
quantity of people with internet access it presents law enforcement with a
challenge. While the global sharing of information is a brilliant technological
development, it also presents the possibility of dangerous, potentially
harmful information to be shared. From a law enforcement prospective, most
people today have the capability to access potentially deadly information
online.

In order to combat this increase in risk of danger, law enforcement

agencies have increased their operations. Law enforcement must be ready to
respond to a wide variety of situations effectively all with community safety
in mind. The possibility of a threat in Americas communities and hometowns
is very real and must be taken seriously.
Political leaders response to their perception of an increase in social
ills is to increase policing and provide ample funding for these agencies to
combat crime in their communities. The federal government sought to do
this by developing programs that give resources to law enforcement
agencies to restore social order. In 1989 temporary funding was allocated for
federal military surplus to be transferred down to state and local police
forces. This is known as the 1033 program. In 1997 the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) made the 1033 program permanent. The National
Defense Authorization Act of 1997 authorizes small police forces the right to
own and employee heavy military style equipment such as armored vehicles
for land, air and sea, as well as ballistic and surveillance equipment.
The 1033 program is a federal program that grants military surplus to
local police forces. 1033, like the NDAA trickles down equipment like bomb
fighting robots, personnel carriers, and military infantry gear down from the
military, to the state, to local police. This program grants police forces in
small communities access to equipment completely unproportioned to any
situation that may occur. Since the programs start, over 11,500 law

enforcement agencies have participated. Of those agencies, nearly 5.1 billion

dollars worth of resources has been transferred (Rahall).
The NDAA and 1033 programs shapes how police in America operate
and look. Without these programs police would not be permitted to own and
use gear normally reserved for military operations overseas. The ever too
frequent image of a line of officers fitted with riot shields and tear gas would
not be if it were not for these programs.
Another program known as the 1122 is similar to 1033. The 1122 is
intended to assist law enforcement agencies in counterdrug and
counterterrorism efforts. It differs from 1033 in that it authorizes law
enforcement agencies to purchase new equipment, while 1033 grants
surplus gear. 1122 is a sort of tactical gear catalog for police to acquire new
gear, and to purchase necessary supplies to maintain what they already own.
Through 1122, agencies can even acquire land-to-air weapon systems
(Rahall).
The mutual relationship between 1033 and 1133 greatly benefits
military contracted companies. Companies such as Lockheed Martin,
Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing heavily relies on government
military contracts. Much of the militaries heavy equipment comes from these
companies, like the B-2 bomber, or the F-14 fighter (Berrigan). Anytime the
government contractors a company, they benefit. For example, following the
September 11th terrorist attacks, just two days into the bombing of

Afghanistan Northrop Grummans stock jumped to 107 dollars, a three year

high for the company (Berrigan).
Crime increases when urban people are centralized and confined to an
area with limited access to necessary resources. Logically when there is an
increase in crime, policing that crime should respond adequately. The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 continued the
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) of 1968. Byrne
JAG was initially a million dollar grant intended to research social causes of
criminal acts, to provide alternative services for juveniles, and to combat
street crime. Overtime, Byrne JAG has expanded. Since 2005, five billion
dollars have been allocated. However, the majority of this goes exclusively to
the general funds of law enforcement agencies (Rahall).
The ARRA receives federal funding for local police forces based on
crime statistics. So if crime goes up, funding proportionally follows suit. This
creates an incentive for police departments to report a higher crime statistic,
as it affects federal funding they receive. Consequently, police departments
fish for any chance they can to report a crime. This includes everything from
speeding tickets to major drug busts (Rahall). In one instance, a drug sting
tilted Operation Glasshouse in Temecula Valley Unified School District
involved luring 17 year old autistic and bipolar child, Jesse Snodgrass, into
purchasing marijuana for an undercover officer (Adams). For the Riverside
County Sheriffs Department, Snodgrasss arrest, as well as 22 other

students arrested equated to another crime to be reported ensuring federal

funding. These arrests contributed to the funding the department received.
There are policies in place, such as the 1033 that encourage
misconduct by police forces. As part of 1033, all equipment acquired must be
used within one year. This means departments must use all equipment within
a year if they not only intend to keep the equipment, but wish to continue to
be grated gear of similar caliber. As a result police departments use vehicles
and equipment in an effort to show the federal government that the
equipment is necessary. Its use however, may not be warranted or even
applicable. Police departments may also use gear as part of a drill. While not
actually deployed in their community, these drills resemble a sort of
authoritarian display of power.
In many cases excessive force results when more resources are spent
on a particular situation than were realistically required. Small law
enforcement agencies have incentive to deploy resources when they may
not be applicable in order to maintain possession of equipment. Today the
mainstream media is filled with cases of people, particularly young black
men, being killed by law enforcement. Whether these people were innocent
is for a court of law to determine: however, they are still deceased, and the
cellphone footage in many cases remains on the internet. Such as the 2013
incident of the killing of Cedrick Chatman (Drash).

Police brutality is a negative thing. Within a healthy society there is an

implied social contract between the public and the police force. The police
are a part of the public, yet they are civil servants to their community. It is
inherent to job of a police officer to use force. Force is required in many
cases to stop a potential threat from causing harm. A problem occurs
however when the use of force is unproportioned to the risk of harm by the
treat. Brutality is harmful to a community because it breaks the bond
between police and the public as community and those who protect the
community.
Art exploration in youth is important. Exposure to art in young kids is
especially important. Yet arts are an often overlooked part of primary
education, let alone education as a whole. When funding is tight in a school
district, arts are the first to be cut. Athletic programs in particular seem to
stay afloat no matter the financial situation of the district.
Until the start of the Great Depression in the early twentieth century,
arts were a large part of public education. Lack of funds decreased that role
though. Later, following the economic prosperity of World War II arts were
once again a large portion of public education for the baby boomers. Shortly
after with the rise of the Cold War, the arms race emphasized science and
technology predominately over the arts (Heilig, Cole, and Aguilar).
Providing youth with outstanding education encourages them to be
healthy members of their community later in life. Arts are a wonderful way to

culture an individual and make them sensitive to ideas and their

surroundings. Through arts education children develop social skills they only
experience later in life with personal relationships. Arts provide the
opportunity to develop these skills at a younger age. Musical art, specifically
music performance embraces creativity and uniqueness.
Music is a great vehicle for delivering arts education. The concept of
playing in an ensemble, as a part of a greater whole, is hard to duplicate in
other academic settings. In their thoughts on what is referred to as the music
pedagogy, Randall E. Allsup and Eric Shieh proclaim, There is no teaching
for social justice without an awareness of the inequities that surround us
(Allsup Shieh 48). Allsup and Shieh speak on how a well-rounded student
includes being aware of social justice issues. Their belief of music pedagogy
is how music educators should branch their teaching efforts to include
political, social, and general human aspects (Allsup Shieh).
The George W. Bush administration No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a
policy meant to track students learning growth in a quantitative way. It also
intends to measure a teachers success based on classroom test scores.
Federal funding is provided for schools to conduct standardized tests for
math, reading, and writing. Test scores are not used to evaluate students
abilities, rather they are used to assess schools ability to teach. The problem
with this however is federal funding is only provided to school for
achievement in the above topics (Beveridge). This leads to public schools
exclusively emphasizing math, reading and writing skills. From a purely

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objective financial standpoint it makes little sense for a school to foster

healthy arts programs if the schools livelihood depends on students
comprehension in other subjects.
Federal funding for public education is insufficient. Many kids in the
school system lack proper resources. Extracurricular programs often charge
families fees to participate. Class sizes are often too large for a healthy
learning environment, and as a result students may be academically
neglected. In the state of Oregon federal grants to local school districts have
steadily increase, averaging nearly 145 million dollars over the past three
years. While this funding has been increasing, it is not proportional to
population growth. In reality, school receive less money each year for school
up-keep and to educate the youth.
The state of police militarization today presents a problem to the public
and to the health of small American communities. Law enforcement agencies
receive an over abundant amount of funding. Also, there is little oversight
regulating these departments uses of force and general operations. This
combination has resulted in a high likelihood for misconduct and an abuse of
power. Legislation such as the 1033, 1122, and Byrne JAG enable this power
dynamic. Decreasing available funding for law enforcement agencies will
reduce the chance of misconduct. Lowering funding will also remove military
grade vehicles and equipment from police departments. An appropriate
decrease in funding will not impede on law enforcements ability to do their

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job. Reducing the capability for law enforcement agencies to perform military
style operations will have a positive impact on American communities.
Public schooling in the United States is less than sufficient. Allocating
more funding for education will strengthen schools and empower todays
youth. Arts education is unique in the many lessons it offer. Increasing
funding for art education in public schools will have a positive social impact.
Students not only become more engaged citizens, but the probability of
them being a social burden is lessoned.
The federal government should revise legislation that grants fund to
police department. The ways in which funding are transferred down
oppresses the American populous, especially minorities. Federal funding
should be reallocated to public education. Taking money away from police
and giving it to education will benefit society.
Americas urban poor often live a life of economic hardship and
oppression. Education is underappreciated with political leaders in power
today. Instead of properly funding holistically beneficial educational
programs, funding is prioritized for punishment and policing. Policies in place
encourage the continued increase in law enforcement size, and will further
oppress the American people. Priorities in the education system are
misguided towards teacher accountability and not student growth and
development. Arts education is a crucial tool for promoting student growth.

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This is why law enforcement agencies need to receive less funding, while
arts education need to receive more.