The Case Against Police Militarization

50 Pages Posted: 20 Sep 2016 Last revised: 15 Aug 2018

See all articles by Eliav Lieblich

Eliav Lieblich

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Adam Shinar

Reichman University - Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliyah - Harry Radziner School of Law

Date Written: January 10, 2017

Abstract

We usually think there is a difference between the police and the military. Recently, however, the police have become increasingly militarized – a process which is likely to intensify in coming years. Unsurprisingly, many find this process alarming, and call for its reversal. However, while most of the objections to police militarization are framed as instrumental arguments, these are unable to capture the core problem with militarization. This Article remedies this shortcoming by developing a novel and principled argument against police militarization. Contrary to arguments that are preoccupied with the consequences of militarization, the real problem with police militarization is not that it brings about more violence or abuse of authority – though that may very well happen – but that it is based on a presumption of the citizen as a threat, while the liberal order is based on precisely the opposite presumption. A presumption of threat, we argue, assumes that citizens, usually from marginalized communities, pose a threat of such caliber that might require the use of extreme violence. This presumption, communicated symbolically through the deployment of militarized police, marks the policed community as an enemy, and thereby excludes it from the body politic. Crucially, the pervasiveness of police militarization has led to its normalization, thus exacerbating its exclusionary effect. Indeed, whereas the domestic deployment of militaries has always been reserved for exceptional times, the process of police militarization has normalized what was once exceptional.

Keywords: police, militarization, emergencies, human rights, civil rights, constitutional law, legal theory, political theory, war on drugs

Suggested Citation

Lieblich, Eliav and Shinar, Adam, The Case Against Police Militarization (January 10, 2017). 23 Michigan Journal of Race & Law 105 (2018), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2840715 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2840715

Eliav Lieblich

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law ( email )

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv, IL
Israel

Adam Shinar (Contact Author)

Reichman University - Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliyah - Harry Radziner School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 167
Herzliya, 46150
Israel

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