Name: Rise of the Warrior Cop
ISBN: 9781610392112

Radley Balko

Relates the history of American police forces from the constables and sheriffs of the past to the modern-day SWAT teams and riot teams that blur the line between police officers and soldiers.

The Militarization of America's Police Forces

Rise of the Warrior Cop

Patrick Book

This is more or less an American legislative and policy history of the castle doctrine, how the war on drugs/crime/whatever creates a distorted view of on the part of officers of what they do, and the LAPD's ground breaking SWAT team creation. It doesn't touch the recent awareness and action around Black Lives Matter and the killing of black people by police, focusing instead on wrong address and no-knock raids. There is no shortage of shocking stories throughout, however. It is despairing that some of these practices have been allowed to continue as long as they have. 

It would be interesting to see a comparative analysis of the Canadian experience. We seem to be 20-30 years behind the acceptance of overly-armoured response vehicles and carbines, and I don't think we're anywhere near the level of questionable use of SWAT resources displayed here.

Rise of the Warrior Cop The Militarization of America's Police Forces