Description
Recent protests in the wake of police-related deaths have reinvigorated conversations about police militarization and the potential consequences of military equipment being used by domestic law enforcements agencies. These conversations have also centered around the structural issues of policing that have paved the way for racial disparities to persist. Previous studies have examined police militarization by operationalizing the material dimensions of the 1033 program – a transfer program for law enforcement agencies to request surplus military equipment. Given mixed findings, the present study conducts an agency-level analysis in order to assess the determinants and factors associated with participation in the 1033 program. In this study, I hypothesize that minority threat arguments will explain 1033 program participation. This study measures minority threat in two ways, through census proportion variables and through segregation variables. By using data from the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency 1033 program and by utilizing a multinomial logit model, this study is able to determine what factors determine 1033 program participation and explain whether law enforcement agencies are requesting controlled (militaristic) or non-controlled (non-militaristic) equipment. In summary, my results indicated that proportion Hispanic is associated in determining non-controlled equipment acquisitions, while proportion Non-Hispanic White is associated in determining no equipment for both non-controlled and controlled items. When it comes to controlled items (militaristic items), proportion Non-Hispanic Black is associated with no equipment when compared to controlled equipment. The results revealed that proportion of owner-occupied households, annual violent crime, officer rate per 10,000, and police related deaths were associated in controlled item acquisitions. By running the model again with the use of segregation variables, I found that the Isolation-Index between White-Black and White-Hispanic were both associated in determining controlled equipment acquisitions. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate the importance of analyzing minority threat in cities with smaller population sizes – if future studies plan to use the minority threat theoretical framework, they should consider using segregation variables.
