![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
SWAT and posse comitatus, Part 1
Nov. 19th, 2014 09:46 amFor some time now, and certainly since the brouhaha at Ferguson, various people have been complaining about the "militarization" of US police forces. This specifically includes the tendency for local police departments to get SWAT teams and surplus military armored vehicles. (I've alluded to this problem before.) There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is something that happened in 1878.
Well, actually the election of 1876. At the risk of over-simplifying, the two major candidates tied in the Electoral College. A compromise was agreed to, and the Republican, Hayes, was declared the winner. Part of the compromise was the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This act essentially prohibits the US military from getting involved in civilian law enforcement.
Prior to 1878, and in most of the rest of the world to this day, if the civilian police can't handle a problem, the military is quickly called into play. In fact, use of the army to put down warlords is how modern nation-states came to be. But here in the USA, police can't easily do that. And there will always be situations where the regular police need help. Much like the development of Special Forces in the military, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams developed in the police world.
Tomorrow, the trouble with SWAT.
Well, actually the election of 1876. At the risk of over-simplifying, the two major candidates tied in the Electoral College. A compromise was agreed to, and the Republican, Hayes, was declared the winner. Part of the compromise was the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This act essentially prohibits the US military from getting involved in civilian law enforcement.
Prior to 1878, and in most of the rest of the world to this day, if the civilian police can't handle a problem, the military is quickly called into play. In fact, use of the army to put down warlords is how modern nation-states came to be. But here in the USA, police can't easily do that. And there will always be situations where the regular police need help. Much like the development of Special Forces in the military, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams developed in the police world.
Tomorrow, the trouble with SWAT.
