Those familiar with the Uniformed Services of the United States will likely recognize the title of this blog. I shall explain for the uninitiated. During a police call soldiers will line up shoulder to shoulder and comb the area in front of them for trash or brass, weeding out the objects that do not belong and returning the area to a state of uniform tidiness.
As a brief introduction to this blog I will introduce myself and my goals here. My name is Jay. I have an undergrad majors in History and Political Science and a Masters in History. I am a lieutenant in the Infantry, small business owner, and lover of strong coffee. I love to read, eat, and troll on the internet.
I have been drawn to the oddities of policing since my youth. Growing up in a farm town-turning-suburb gave me an inherent distaste for our local officers, who mostly seemed to be trying too hard to keep kids out of the park after hours and pulling over minorities for minor traffic violations. Old rebellious thoughts turned into "informed" rebellious thoughts in a very liberal college town and the Bush-era, post 9-11 security apparatus looked very much to be a Republican effort to institute a Soviet style Big Brother Police State.
As many people are now realizing, the following president did little to change the status quo in terms of policing. I became more aware of the events in Oakland, Dallas, Chicago, the border of Arizona and Mexico, and New York. It seemed as though local policing was actively striving for the same powers as national police apparatuses. I also began to notice an inherent fear of policing in certain communities. Minorities fear over-targeting in New York (and everywhere else for that matter) (so much so that "motherfuck the police" was a part of cultural vocabulary). Policing schools enter kids into an ineffective justice system which will likely ruin their lives. Gun owners fear a registry and targeting. This list continues. Every group seems to fear over-policing in some way, yet no movements to roll back police powers has appeared.
My first coherent thoughts in this subject came after an ROTC course on counter insurgency. Driving to the library after class, I had the great pleasure to listen to the Milwaukee Chief of Police speak about his tactics in the toughest neighborhoods of the city on a local radio program. It all seemed very familiar. I pulled over and opened my David Galula and Army Counterinsurgency Manual. My highlights there served almost as a checklist for the police chief's talking points with the program host. An idea had sprouted in my head, one that would not take root until two years later.
The Boston Marathon Bombing moved me to start this blog. I, like many other consumers of the internet, was fascinated by the pictures of police personnel conducting a cordon-and-search of Boston neighborhoods. I focused on the tactics and heartily patted myself on the back, confident that I could too track down a depraved murderer if my city required me too. I was so occupied by my self-congratulatory thoughts (and vengeful glee after the capture of the accused murderer) that I missed a crucial leap in my understanding of what was going on.
I credit Dan Carlin (and his podcast Common Sense) for pointing out a seemingly innocuous point: the police in Boston seemed to be outfitted in military grade gear. Being familiar with the lethal aspects of the armed forces, it surprised me that I had not recognized this. Perhaps it was my proximity to it that had blinded me. Armored personnel carriers flanked by dismounts in body armor and automatic weapons seemed a rather familiar sight. Instead of U.S. ARMY emblazoned on the side, Boston P.D. took its place. Boston, it seems, was equipped to go to war. But with whom? Law-breakers was the immediate answer, but another thought floated into my head: its own citizens. Were the police using military tactics, or the military using police tactics? Both? Neither? I lacked the vocabulary to understand (much less describe to anyone else) my thoughts on the matter. I was (am) a sheep in the herd vulnerable to wolves.
This thought has percolated in my mind enough to start this blog. I'm increasingly drawn to the dichotomy between serving the public and forcibly protecting the public. Just last week protesters in Istanbul clashed with police (their fellow citizens under the law) and blood was shed. America's history is full of these incidents, and every country in the world has dealt with these issues. In this blog, I aim to educate myself about the subject of policing and I invite you to read and learn along with me. I will be focusing mainly on United States history and current events, but may sometimes (or often) stray outside of these borders. No one has every accused me of academic discipline. Please feel free to leave comments along the way. If you would like to contribute a post to the endeavor or have suggested reading material, leave me a note in the comments and I will contact you. Also, be aware that the technology exists to track everything you do online, so make sure your comments and contributions to this discussion are academic in nature.
Thank you for reading this first post. I hope that it is a single small step on the path of greater understanding.
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