The military-police pipeline

Domestic police forces’ arsenals increasingly include weapons of war.

Few people in Bangladesh are as aware of that as protesters. Up to 1,400 people were killed, according to the UN during the student uprising in 2024, the majority of whom were killed by state security forces.

However, police forces in more powerful regions of the world have started to appear and act more like armies over the past few decades. The United States has been the model for how military strategies and tactics for remote conflicts have been translated back into their native tongues and taken to civilian life.