Why are police equipped and trained to treat citizens like enemies of war?

Julian Go (University of Chicago), with William P. Jones (University of Minnesota), complicates our global conversation on the colonial roots of policing and its futures. Discussing what he calls the “imperial boomerang,” Go pinpoints how the mindset of imperial expansion and domination abroad permanently changed how police treat citizens at home. Militarized policing mirrors the tools and technologies of colonial policing abroad—but its logic also mirrors a response to perceived racialized threats from minority and immigrant populations, fear of revolution, and rebellion in the streets. Our panelists will explore the imperial connections and deep subconscious assumptions that inform contemporary trends, all with an eye towards what it will take to demilitarize policing.

Image: Minnesota State Patrol stand at E Lake St and 29th Ave S in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Credit Lorie Shaull via Flickr.