A Disturbing Map (Militarization of the Police Edition)

Via the  NYTMapping the Spread of the Military’s Surplus Gear.

FILED UNDER: Open Forum, Policing,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. jd says:

    I hope Hank Johnson’s anti-militarization bill includes cancellation of any existing maintenance and logistic support agreements.

  2. DrDaveT says:

    What the heck is going on in Maricopa County, Arizona?

  3. Matt says:

    @DrDaveT: That sheriff dude has been hitting the surplus pile hard.

  4. Neil Hudelson says:

    In what likely situation would county departments need grenade launchers? Any situation I can think of should entail state and/or national guard leadership.

  5. Neil Hudelson says:

    Caught in moderation.

  6. PJ says:

    @DrDaveT:

    What the heck is going on in Maricopa County, Arizona?

    The state capital is in the county, so high numbers can partly be explained due to state and local agencies located in the county and that the county has a population of 3.5 million.

    I find, for example, Deschutes County and Klamath County in Oregon to be more interesting.

    I’d like to have the data in a document rather than a map, so that you could add population and if the state capitol is in the county, etc. Can’t find it anywhere though, but there have been some interesting FOIA requests recently for 1033 data.