Police Militarization in Urban Areas: The Obscure War Against the Underclass

AbstractAbstractTHE WAR ON CRIME in inner-city urban America has changed the breadth and scope of urban policy, urban policing, and the perception of the urban underclass. While the inner-city urban underclass has become socially and economically encapsulated by the urban war on crime and an increasingly militarized urban policing force waging that war, ironically, it has also become both enemy and victim in an obscure economic and social war that is sanctioned by federal, state, and local governments. This essay will not only examine the question of whether this is a war against crime or a war against the urban underclass, but will also examine the context of police militarization and its negative impact on the urban underclass.