“Do Not Resist” is an inside view of this nation’s fast-track to a militarized police force. The documentary won Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and was the directorial debut of Craig Atkinson. Since the film included explosive scenes from the 2014 Ferguson Uprising, I was asked to facilitate the post-screening discussion in Madison, Wisconsin.
Prior to the Ferguson Uprising, there had been talk about urban police looking and acting like the military. It was the brazen display of weaponry against U.S. citizens that shocked and sickened most people around the world. A united force of local and national law enforcers unleashed weapons used in war – Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), M16s, M4 carbines, flash grenades, CS sting grenades, pepper balls, rubber bullets, wooden bullets, etc.
It was during the Ferguson occupation that folks found out about the Department of Defense’s (DOD) 1033 program that gave and/or sold military equipment to local U.S. police departments. We also found out that the use of tear gas is illegal in war but quite alright to use on non-violent protestors. As a chemical agent, tear gas was banned in warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
After I previewed the film, I realized how heavy it would land on the heart and psyche of a viewing audience. I had to beat back my own post-traumatic flashbacks when thrown into the cinematic frames of West Florissant Avenue. I knew I had to figure out how to unpack this weighty production, but still have people leave the theater feeling the sting across their faces from the reality slap of by the movie.
In addition to the filming in Ferguson, Atkinson and his crew got privileged access to a SWAT mission in South Carolina, to police trainings and to the inventory of rows and rows of MRAPs in Texas. By the way, MRAPs costs taxpayers about $1 million each.
There were several points during the screening that elicited spontaneous verbal responses from the audience. Like police in Ferguson giving each other celebratory shield bumps. Like when we heard there’s virtually no training that accompanies the military equipment to local police departments. Like the SWAT trashing of a home in search of drugs and finding a modest amount of marijuana in a young, black man’s book bag. Like the footage from the first congressional hearing on militarization of police where U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) grilled Alan Estevez, who oversees the 1033 program.
But it was the segment from the Grossman Academy training that got a rise out of audience members and stimulated conversations about founder Dave Grossman that continued days after the screening. Grossman is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who is an expert in the psychology of killing, which he calls “killology.” In the training, Grossman tells a room full of cops that “violence is your tool” and how good the sex will be after the kill. He ends the training literally beating his chest like a crazed animal and telling the trainees to let their “capes blow in the wind.”
Despite the documented reduction of violent crime in this country, the militarization of police has continued to escalate. The availability of 1033 weapons is a big contributing factor in making this a reality. Now once-mundane police operations have turned into adrenaline-pumping, highly choreographed encounters by warrior cops. In its “War Comes Home” report, the American Civil Liberties Union cites an alarming stat: Nearly 80 percent of SWAT deployments in 2011-2012 were for search warrants, not for bringing in serious criminals.
After the Madison screening, I decided to have the crowd brainstorm a few tasks they could do in response to what they saw in the movie and what they now know is a national trend. They agreed to: talk about the militarization of police with anyone they can; find out what military weapons Madison has obtained under the 1033 program and publicize the inventory; support any legislation that leads to demilitarization of domestic law enforcement agencies, as well as laws that restrict the overreach of surveillance technology; and support the resistance of citizens in other country to U.S. military aggression.
I believe these four commitments are appropriate for any community to take on – urban or rural. The warrior cop is not a futuristic movie. The warrior and his tools of violence are already in your police department.
