Militarization of police
The militarization of police is the use of military equipment and tactics by law enforcement officers. This includes the use of armored personnel carriers, assault rifles, submachine guns, flashbang grenades, sniper rifles, and SWAT teams. The militarization of law enforcement is also associated with intelligence agency–style information gathering aimed at the public and political activists and with a more aggressive style of law enforcement. Criminal justice professor Peter Kraska has defined militarization of police as "the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model".
Observers have noted the militarizing of the policing of protests. Since the 1970s, riot police have fired at protesters using guns with rubber bullets or plastic bullets. Tear gas, which was developed by the United States Army for riot control in 1919, is still widely used against protesters. The use of tear gas in warfare is prohibited by various international treaties that most states have signed; however, its law enforcement or military use for domestic or non-combat situations is permitted.
Concerns about the militarization of police have been raised by both ends of the political spectrum in the United States, with both the libertarian Cato Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union voicing criticisms of the practice. The Fraternal Order of Police has spoken out in favor of equipping law enforcement officers with military equipment, claiming that it increases the officers' safety and enables them to protect members of the public and other first responders. However, a 2017 study showed that police forces which received military equipment were more likely to have violent encounters with the public, regardless of local crime rates. A 2018 study found that militarized police units in the United States were more frequently deployed to communities with large shares of African-Americans, even after controlling for local crime rates.
Many countries also have at least one gendarmerie, which is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population.
France classifies some weapons as "intermediary force weapons" such as its LBD 40 refitted version of the Swiss B&T GL06 military grenade launcher, which is used in riot police situations or against individual persons in more specific interventions.
While not having the full power of military guns, some weapons are heavier than regular police weaponry and are still lethal. These are often referred to with the "limited lethality" appellation.
Brazil
In 2013 "... Brazil saw countrywide demonstrations protesting a lack of basic services while the country was spending billions on the World Cup and the Olympics. The unprepared and overreacting police forces responded in a way that shocked the largely middle-class protesters. The police, using "non-lethal" weapons like pepper spray and rubber bullets while dressed from head to toe in ninja-like full battle gear, indiscriminately arrested both violent 'black bloc' demonstrators, known for their confrontational tactics and anarchist views, along with non-violent protestors marching peacefully." As a result, "...calls for de-militarization of the police—from social movements, non-governmental organizations, and even segments of the police itself—became widespread and remain one of the legacies of the World Cup". The Brazilian "...Military Police today, while not officially a wing of the Armed Forces, remains an institution with a strict military hierarchy, training that retains a military ideology, and practices that frequently resemble occupying forces conquering enemy territories".The units that responded to the protests were Shock Police, units specialized in riot control. The Military Police is an ancillary and reserve force of the Army, under the General Inspectorate of Military Police, being that a part of Land Operations Command. But, in time of peace, the state governor act as commander-in-chief of the Police and Firefighting Corps, according to the Constitution of Brazil, article 144, 6th paragraph, where it is said that the "Military Police and Firefighter Corps, ancillary and reserve forces of the Army, subordinate themselves, with the Civil Police, to the state and Federal District governors."
The Brazilian Federal Highway Police was also criticized for the creation of tactical teams during the Bolsonaro administration, during a process that was seen by some as a politically charged militarization of the force. During this period, PRF tactical teams gained notoriety after taking part in two high-profile operations. The first one, which sought to apprehend criminals responsible for planning a series of high-profile bank robberies across the country known as the Novo Cangaço, left 26 suspects dead after a raid in Varginha in October 2021. The second one, a joint incursion with BOPE in the Vila Cruzeiro favela of Rio de Janeiro, left 23 dead, including a civilian bystander. Minister of Justice Flávio Dino of the Lula administration that followed sought to restructure the organization, mentioning the 2022 election controversy and claiming that it had "deviated" from its main role, requiring a "depoliticization".
Canada
Canadian legal expert Michael Spratt wrote, "...there's no question that Canadian police sometimes look more like post-apocalyptic military mercenaries than protectors of the peace. Our police services have been acquiring more and more military toys—a dangerous trend that's gotten little in the way of critical analysis in the mainstream media." Growing numbers of Canadian police agencies have acquired armored vehicles in recent years. In 2010 the Ottawa Police Service bought a Lenco G3 BearCat APC for $340,000, which has "half-inch-thick military steel armoured bodywork,.50 caliber–rated ballistic glass, blast-resistant floors, custom-designed gun ports and... a roof turret".The G20 protests in Toronto in 2010 showed that the militarization of protest policing is not only occurring in the United States. Police in Toronto used a sound cannon, or Long Range Acoustic Device —a weapon that was developed for use in conflicts in the Middle East, as well as barricades, pre-emptive arrests and riot units. According to Kevin Walby, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, "the more interesting aspect of the militarization of the police is actually on the strategy side"; police are "increasingly training with military-style tacticians, especially when it comes to situations like crowd control and, increasingly, surveillance".
On June 3, 2015, it was reported that "RCMP officers have started openly carrying MP5 submachine guns on Parliament Hill as part of a visible increase to Parliament Hill security following last October's terrorist attack" in 2014. Conservative senator Vern White, a former RCMP officer and a former Ottawa police chief, says "...some RCMP officers guarding Parliament Hill against potential terrorist attacks should be armed with rifles similar to those carried by Canadian troops in Afghanistan " the "...more powerful Colt C8 popular with police tactical teams and Canadian and other NATO alliance troops". White argues that the C8 carbines would give officers a much longer shooting range than the short-barreled MP5 submachine guns. "The RCMP is issuing more than 2,200 C8 carbines to its officers", but the RCMP has not indicated whether the C8s will be issued to Parliament Hill officers.
The use of surplus armored vehicles for use by the RCMP and other police forces throughout the country are challenged by lawyers and academics since they can easily send the wrong message to the public. According to Michael Spratt, an Ottawa-based criminal lawyer, the funds used to acquire the vehicles is better used for crime prevention activities.
Colombia
"Since 1999, an eight-billion-dollar programme in Colombia has seen the mass deployment of military troops and militarized police forces to both interdict illegal drugs and counter left-wing guerrilla groups". This assistance "promote militarization to address organized crime". Due to these U.S. policies, "civilian forces... have increasingly received military training, leading to concerns over human rights violations and excessive use of force, as well as a lack of knowledge over how to deal with local protests—concerns startlingly similar to those now coming out of Ferguson, Missouri".France
French police since the Charlie Hebdo shootings started to issue heavier guns to police instead of the standard SIG Sauer SP 2022 pistol issued per default. Before this heavier guns were only given to elite units but some units are now getting heavier weaponry such as the anti-criminality brigades which was given H&K G36 assault rifles. 18 of the 19 shootings with this weapon were accidental discharges, the first year when this weapon was issued to anti-criminality policemen.Companies Republicaines de Sécurité which are an anti-riot unit are issued grenades which are classified as war weaponry in France. While gas weapons are forbidden for military use by the Geneva convention, which is signed by France too, no restriction applies to civilian use.
In 2021, basing himself on the model of the Gendarmerie France's Interior's Minister Gérald Darmanin said he wished to extend the police reserve of 30 000 reservists to "recreate links" with police forces. This comes during the protests against the Loi Sécurité Globale.
Germany
In 2016, the German police introduced a new special unit, BFE+, which is designed to "counter terror attacks". Criminologist Rafael Behr says the new "mainly serves as a psychological reassurance for the public", serving as a "symbolic" effort and a functional effort.The functional aspect is that with the BFE+, the government can use armed forces with military weapons inside Germany, an act that is "currently banned by the German constitution". The 250 person BFE+ will be added to the existing GSG-9 unit. Behr states that the BFE+ will be able to "launch large-scale manhunts", using an "end of the policing spectrum" which "borders on war-like or military action".