Miami Division: Police MUST police the police

Police Officers have recently come under significant scrutiny all over the country lately due to concern over shootings of civilians. Policing can be a violent profession and therefore requires the ability to defend itself from violence perpetuated against police officers. The problem seems to have arisen when officers appear to have overreached self protection to be considered by some to be violence against the very citizens they are sworn to protect. Over the past years we have seen the militarization of the public police whereas at the same time we are seeing our military acting more as a policing agency overseas. As we militarize our public police we have also changed the public’s perception of them and equally we are seeing the police officers themselves perceiving themselves more as soldiers than “peace” officers. This trend must stop and in fact must begin to reverse itself if we are to reduce the tensions between the police and those being policed.