"American law enforcement is and has always been paramilitary. We've simply seen an escalation, and a very large one, since 9/11 and leading into the Occupy movement as well …. They are a civilian police force but they operate according to a paramilitary organisational arrangement. It's a very heavily command-and-control oriented institution."
- Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief
An investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting found that some police departments have been transformed into "army-like forces" because of the equipment they use.
... the most visible use of that equipment has come as they dispersed largely peaceful protests like those seen at the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
In July this year, in the Californian city of Anaheim, police officers looked like they were prepared for war as they surrounded unarmed protesters demonstrating against police brutality.
"What we've been seeing in the last 10 years is even more disturbing .... The level of force that governments, politicians and law enforcement officials are choosing to use is not really based on a realistic assessment of the threat but increasingly based on what sort of political message that they want to send."
Radley Balko, a senior writer at the Huffington Post
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