Research Says Violent Cops Cause Violent Protests — Matt Baume

Here is a 2025 study linking the militarization of police with increasing violence.

NEW DIRECTIONS IN PROTEST POLICING

EDWARD R. MAGUIRE*

INTRODUCTION

On August 9, 2014, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old African-American man named Michael Brown.1While the details of the shooting are disputed, for many black residents in the area, the incident represented the culmination of a long line of abusive police practices targeted primarily toward African Americans.2 The controversial shooting triggered months of mass demonstrations in the St. Louis area.3 The protests intensified on November 24, 2014 when the grand jury decided not to indict the officer.4 The way area police departments responded to the protests was viewed by critics as heavy-handed and overly militarized.5 An after-action assessment sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) concluded that police relied on “ineffective and inappropriate strategies and tactics” that had the “unintended consequence of escalating rather than diminishing tensions.”6

Proper policing controls while diminishing violence, while policing by paramilitaries escalates violence. And militarized policing is expensive to boot.

Militarized policing needs to be defunded, and guaranteed immunity of police officers ended. Reform may not be possible under current arrangements, e.g., owing to police unions, in which case police departments will have to disestablished and new "safety force" organizations constituted.

This was the thinking of the majority of the Minneapolis City Council in deciding to end the current police department since attempts at reform had failed. The ensuing disaster could have been avoided. This incident was not chiefly the result of "a few bad apples," but existing policy and culture. If something vital cannot be reformed, then it must be terminated and restructured under new design, fresh policy and competent management.

Portland Mercury — Blogtown
Research Says Violent Cops Cause Violent Protests
Matt Baume