Since 9/11, the U.S. military has taken on more police-type duties here at home, and the cops have started acting more like G.I.'s. That's not a good thing, argues Cato Institute senior editor and Defense Tech pal Gene Healy, in a new report.
"The soldiers mission, as soldiers often phrase it, is 'killing people and breaking
things.' In contrast, police officers, ideally, are trained to operate in an environment where constitutional rights apply and to use force only as a last resort," he writes.
But our rights are not the only thing in jeopardy here, Healy contends.
Turning the military loose on domestic patrol won't "make us any safer," he says, "you can't beat a shoe-bomber with a tank column."
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