Legal Features
The Rise of the American Police State
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- In a follow-up to its May 2010 student symposium on the rise of the American police state, The Rutherford Institute is publishing the final paper, entitled "The Rise of the American Police State." The symposium was presented by the Virginia Themis Society of the University of Virginia.
"The Rise of the American Police State" the cultural, historical, and political contexts of an increasingly militarized American police force, its impact on America's communities and liberties, particularly as it relates to the free exercise of First and Fourth Amendment freedoms, and the role of American citizens and the media in defining their relationship with the police.
As the report concludes:
The threat of an unchecked militarized police force is one that transcends city boundaries, historical eras, and presidential administrations. The widespread authority that the police can exert has a siren-like lure to which no government or political party is immune... Citizens must be wary of any governmental entity that erodes their civil liberties. The increasingly antiterrorism-oriented police units have begun to regard dissenting citizens, or even innocent and unsuspecting citizens, as the "enemy" in domestic "war zones."... The militarization of the police does not occur instantaneously, but is the cumulative result of each military tool amassed, each protester silenced based on his political views, or each wrongful search that goes unchallenged. Each of these individual expressions of authority is an opportunity, however, for the citizens to regain control of their communities.
Click here to read or download "The Rise of the American Police State."
