From the article:
The clash between police and citizens in Ferguson, Mo., highlights an American dilemma about law enforcement. After the Missouri State Highway Patrol took over policing on Thursday night, the streets of Ferguson became considerably more peaceful than they had been under the watch of St. Louis County police.
As the crisis has starkly illustrated, we’ve been increasing the power of every police force in terms of weapons, authority, impact, and indemnity. But the quality of policing hasn’t always kept up with the elevated power—nor has our ability to test and improve that quality. The U.S. should look to other countries for techniques of measuring police probity and foster reforms to strengthen the caliber of the nation’s law enforcement system.
Military-style SWAT teams were deployed 45,000 times across the U.S. last year, and thanks to Department of Defense donation programs, the police have access to ever more heavy equipment. Some 500 law enforcement agencies—including Ohio State University—are now proud owners of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, for example. The enhanced weaponry has contributed to the increasing lethality of U.S. law enforcement: The FBI estimates that 410 people were killed by U.S. law enforcement officers in the line of duty in 2012. The same statistic for the U.K. is one person.
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