We've all seen videos of Third World "police" in combat gear putting down demonstrations by physically assaulting protesters, turning heavy equipment and tear gas on them, or shooting into crowds. That's what makes the recent events in Baltimore all the more disturbing. This time the "peace officers" in military combat gear, brandishing military-grade weapons and perched on armored military vehicles, were ours.

No one knows what the Baltimore protests will look like in the coming days, though the criminal charges filed against six police officers in the homicide of Freddie Gray may have a calming effect. But the recent violence there and elsewhere has brought long-overdue attention to an important national development that had all but been ignored: the militarization of our police.

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