The Atlantic: The culture of policing is broken

During nationwide protests on police brutality, a UC co-led study about the militarization of police forces continues to be cited in major media outlets such as The Atlantic.

Law enforcement agencies that use military equipment kill citizens at significantly higher rates than agencies that don’t, according to the 2017 research study.

The study is co-authored by Jack Mewhirter, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati who states that agencies with increased military tools have higher rates of police-involved killings.  

The study, Mewhirter says, was the first attempt to analyze whether and to what extent military transfers have increased the propensity by which law enforcement agencies cause “undue or unnecessary harm” and rules out that this link between militarization and violence is driven by increased crime.

>Read The Atlantic article in its entirety here

>Mewhirter interviewed on WVXU Cincinnati Edition: Local Study Examines Nationwide Police Use Of Militarized Equipment (scroll to June 11, 2020 segment)

Featured image at top: police in riot gear. Photo/Unsplash/Ev