Public servants or police soldiers? An analysis of opinions on the militarization of policing from police executives, law enforcement, and members of the 114th congress U.S. house of representatives

Abstract

Despite the dramatic rise in use of militarized weapons, equipment, and tactics by police departments across the nation, no study has examined the opinions of those responsible for designing, funding, and implementing police militarization in the United States. Therefore this study collected and analyzed opinion data from 465 key stakeholders from the 114th Congress U.S. House of Representatives, law enforcement executives, and local police officers regarding police militarization. Results suggest that while most practitioners and policymakers favor police militarization, Congress and law enforcement differ in support of critical issues such as oversight of military procurement programs, use of surplus military weapons and vehicles, and overall support for the militarization of policing in the United States.

Keywords:

• Policing
• police militarization
• policy
• opinion survey

Acknowledgement

The expressed views, conclusions, observations, etc. made in this manuscript are that of the authors only, and does not reflect the position of the DHS nor are they endorsed by the DHS.

Notes

1. These professional law enforcement organizations were selected as they are among the largest and most nationally representative organizations in the United States. This allowed for a more diverse sample with varied perspectives to be included in the study. Only members that provided an e-mail address in the online membership rosters were contacted for participation. While the responses were anonymous, IP address locations indicated responses from California, Maine, Virginia, Florida, Texas, and many states in between had participated in the survey.

2. The largest and most recent study examining placement of demographic questions on response rates and validity of responses using web-based surveys among 75,000 respondents. Results suggest that placing demographic items at the beginning of the survey increased response rate for those items, and did not affect responses to future measures, compared to when demographic questions were asked last (Teclaw, Price, & Osatuke, 2012). These results, which support the use of demographic questions at the front of a survey, have also been found in several earlier studies (e.g., Babbie, 2008; Colton & Covert, 2007; Frick, Bächtiger, & Reips, 1999).

3. The 114th Congress was comprised of 246 Republicans (57%) and 187 Democrats (43%). In the present sample, there were 15 Republicans (60%) and 10 Democrats (40%) (Republican: Z = −25.28, p = .768. Democrat: Z = −18.94, p = .768). There were 88 women in the 114th Congress (20%), and in the present sample there were 7 female Representatives (28%) (Z = −17.04, p = .335). Finally, 45 members of the 114th Congress were Black (10%), 38 were Hispanic (8%), and 351 (81%) were White. In the present sample, 4 (16%) of Congress representatives were Black, 3 (12%) were Hispanic, and 18 (72%) were White (Black: Z = −12.96, p = .338. Hispanic: Z = −10.98, p = .479. White: Z = −27.76, p = .270). These figures suggest the present sample closely resembles the 114th Congress in terms of gender, race, and political affiliation, as no statistically significant differences between the two groups were found.