Justifying Militarization: The Influence of Active Shooter Events on Police use of the 1033 Program

• In Event: Law Enforcement, Shootings, and Guns

Abstract

Law enforcement agencies are facing new public scrutiny over the acquisition of military-style equipment, such as armored vehicles, which are highly visible elements of police presence and perceived by some as provocative symbols of a police force hostile to the communities they serve. A common justification offered by agencies under pressure to explain the necessity of these types of acquisitions is to evoke the needs of officer safety in an era of mass shootings, like the Sandy Hook (CT) Elementary School and the Aurora (CO) theater shootings. This study examines this particular type of justification geographically by analyzing the spatial relationships between counties with active shooter events and acquisitions of military surplus equipment by law enforcement agencies in nearby counties over an eight year period from 2006 to 2013. We find little evidence to support that proximity to a shooting event had any impact on acquisition patterns over this time period. Our findings situate the routine justifications offered by law enforcement for the need for military equipment as acts of politics that draw on a perceived national landscape of extreme gun violence to reinforce police militarization within particular places.

Authors

• Lanny Dean McAden, University of Idaho

• Steven Radil, University of Idaho