“Gung-ho”? An Examination of the Move to Militarise Policing in Australia

Abstract

In the recent years, the move by police services to militarise in the United States (US) has become cause for concern. This process of militarisation involves a convergence of policing and military domains to guide the enforcement response of policing services. This chapter will examine the phenomenon of militarisation as it applies to policing in general. The chapter will then conduct a threat analysis of the current Australian policing environment and argue that the current environment does not justify any further moves to militarise the Australian policing response.

The author is currently an Associate Professor at Bond University where he lectures in the criminology field. Prior to this he served for 28 years in the Queensland Police Service, Australia, as a Detective Inspector. He served in general duties, traffic branch, child protection and the criminal investigation branch. His last posting was as an Inspector at Ethical Standards Command where he was responsible for the preparation of high-level briefs of evidence for misconduct matters likely to result in demotion or dismissal of officers from the service.