Police Culture: The Long Road from Warriors to Guardians

Is military culture a factor in the recent police killings?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/crimes-violence/202006/police-culture-the-long-road-
warriors-guardians

The whole world watched the horrific video of the white police officer pressing his knee into the neck of
George Floyd, an African American. “I can’t breathe” and “Mamma, Mamma” were his last words.
Three other officers stood by and did nothing.

It didn’t take long for the media images that were played over and over to spur a national uprising not
seen since the assassination of Martin Luther King. The first night, people of all races flooded the streets
in Minneapolis with peaceful marching by day and looting and fire settings by night. Then the next day,
Americans emerged from the coronavirus lockdown to fill the streets of cities everywhere with marches
and chants of “Black Lives Matter.” In Washington, D.C., police in riot gear fired tear gas and stun
grenades at peaceful demonstrators who carried signs protesting police violence. Militarized police were
seen on TV roughing up protesters and reporters; some individuals in uniform, however, knelt in
solidarity with the crowd.

Protests and riots have erupted periodically in response to similar incidents of police brutality that were
captured on film. In a country in which around 1,000 people are killed by police each year, with black
rates two and a half to three times as high as white rates, such outbursts are understandable. (See the
Washington Post investigation by Berman et al., 2020). The typical case that led to rioting involved the
shooting of a black man who was unarmed. The rioting, in turn, led to a negative public reaction. This
time, however, as peaceful demonstrations dominated the scene, the media response presented images
of youths sweeping glass off the streets the morning after, and grieving for the deaths of George Floyd
and of other men in custody (and two innocent black women shot in their homes by police).
Meanwhile, the continuing spectacle of police using military-style force in the nation’s capital shocked
viewers who watched on TV, but these strong-arm tactics have commonly been used in times of urban
social unrest.

What is different in the May 2020 protests, not only because they took place during a pandemic, but in
the shire numbers of protesters out on the street day and night. The interracial nature of the protesters
was striking as well. Many of those holding up signs were of college age, but all generations were
represented. Another uniqueness of the 2020 protests is that the unruly, destructive elements fell to the
wayside as peaceful demonstrations took over. The marchers were joined by community leaders
including politicians, lawyers, and health professionals. A third distinction of this anti-policing protest
movement was the expansion of demands beyond justice concerning one specific event into the area of
systemic policy reform.

The recent killings of black suspects and the ready use of weapons of war against protesters can be seen
in historical context. Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko says it all. The police militarization that we
see today--the use of military vehicles, artillery, and SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams—has its
origins in the “wars” on crime, drugs, and terror. The use of the war metaphor is consistent with the
awarding of police departments with battle gear and other equipment as hand-me-downs from the
army. Possessing the armaments of soldiers encourages the police to act like soldiers. Then police
training provides a boot-camp-like experience with an emphasis on weaponry and drills in using them.

The debate over the militarization of America’s police has focused on the accumulation of war-grade
weapons, Humvees, helicopters, and the spread of paramilitary SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics)
teams. Much of the equipment comes from the Department of Defense, which gives police departments
wartime gear that the military no longer needs as well as funding to provide additional weapons.

The focus on militarization tends to stress the need to stop the flow of weapons to police departments
while overlooking the recruitment process. This is probably related to a desire by the American public
and Congress to reward veterans for their service by helping them get civilian jobs. For employment in
law enforcement, veterans who received an honorable discharge are awarded an extra five points on
the entrance exam while disabled veterans receive 10 points. The Justice Department, which expanded
the recruitment of veterans with funding under the Obama and Trump administrations has been
reluctant to support research on the impact of military training and experience on policing behavior.

We need to focus on police hiring. Instead of giving bonus points automatically to veterans, why not give
a preference to the hiring of minorities and women? Authoritarian types should be avoided through
assessment of personality and backgrounds.

Military training for fighting enemies, not to mention experience in combat, may not be the best training
for policing the streets. Consider what such training entails. As is stated on the military site—
military.com—a recent survey of law enforcement agencies found that:

Service members and veterans accounted for nearly one in five sworn officers at agencies and
departments responding to our survey. Nearly every agency reported having a current or former
service member or military spouse as a senior leader.

On average, for every $10 departments spent on recruiting, nearly $1 was dedicated to military
and veteran candidates. More than 70 percent of responding agencies reported attending
military-specific job fairs in the past year, with an average of about 11 per agency.

Roughly half of the agencies have a veteran hiring preference, through extra points on entry
exams or other means.

A commanding officer from Tucson, Arizona cited in the article states that attracting and retaining
service veterans is a high priority for the department. "We’ve just found that military people really come
to the table with the mindset and the skill set to be really highly successful in roles in law enforcement,"
he declared.

According to Military.com, veterans are attracted to law enforcement because the structure of a police
force is compatible that of the military, and the personality traits required for one are the same as for
the other. Law enforcement agencies actively seek veterans, according to this source, among them, the
fact that police chiefs often come from military backgrounds themselves as do others at the highest
ranks, and qualities related to discipline and experience in teamwork. Balko faults recruitment videos
that emphasize the thrilling aspects of police work that seem to reinforce the attraction of certain
personality types to law enforcement.
An article on college programs for veterans titled “Transitioning from Military Service to Law
Enforcement” describes policing as a natural fit for the veteran. Realistically though, this same article
welcoming former service men and women into its program contains a cautionary note. If the applicant
is a combat veteran, it warns, he or she is in a category of people who are uniquely at risk of having Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and substance abuse problems. Individuals with
such problems are urged to get the mental health care they need to better serve the community.

Because of the Americans With Disabilities Act, police departments cannot disqualify applicants for
simply having a PTSD diagnosis or another mental health disorder. In fact, veterans with disabilities
receive extra bonus points over veterans without disabilities in the hiring. Psychological screening is
important for all candidates for jobs in law enforcement (and corrections), and increasingly,
departments are doing so. This is done in recognition of the unique challenges of police work and of the
risks of excessive use of force officers trained for the battlefield and dealing with the enemy.

Another major problem with veteran job preference is that it lifts veterans above other applicants who
might have the qualifications or backgrounds more relevant to the job. Today’s police departments have
needs related to racial or ethnic identity, language fluency, women’s issues, and/or residence in the
community.

As quoted in the Marshall Project, then Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole states that although many
veterans perform well on the job, she feels constrained by the military preference which makes it hard
to change the culture of policing. “I want to attract people with very different skill sets,” she says. “We
are facing complicated issues with people who are in crisis every day. Why wouldn’t I want people who
majored in human services? Or psychology or sociology?”

Police culture, which favors use of physical force when confronted, male bonding and the code of
silence even in the face of wrongdoing, fascination with weaponry, and an “us versus them” mentality. A
refusal to admit weakness holds officers back from receiving mental health treatment when needed.
The powerful police union, aptly called the Fraternal Order of Police, is led by older white men,
vigorously opposes progressive change and is protective of officers charged with abuse of suspects or
with a history of domestic violence.

Given the strength of the police union and the political support of veterans, the road toward reshaping
police culture will be a long one. Happily, the calls for structural change of policing have never been so
loud borne out to the tragic killing of George Floyd and recorded on videotape. “I can’t breathe” has
become the rallying cry of protesters across the U.S. and around the world. The drive for real systemic
change is in the wind. Reformers would do well to heed the words of the former Seattle police chief who
had as her aim to move police and correctional officers from “warriors to guardians.”

Balko, R. (2013). Rise of the warrior cop: The militarization of America's police forces. New York: Public
Affairs.

Berman, M., Sullivan, J., et al. (2020, June 8). Protests spread over police shooting. Washington Post.
Retrieved from  https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/protests-spread-over-police-shootings
The Best Schools Staff (2020, March 23). Transitioning from military service to law enforcement.
Retrieved from https://thebestschools.org/resources/military-law-enforcement/

Weichselbaum, S., & Schwartzapfel, B. (2017). When warriors put on the badge. The Marshall project.
Retrieved from https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/03/30/when-warriors-put-on-the-badge