Pubdate: Fri, 18 Sep 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Michael Sragow

HOW POLICING IS EVOLVING IN U.S.

'Peace Officer,' Set in Utah, Looks at the Arms Buildup Within Law Enforcement.

The engrossing documentary "Peace Officer" looks at the 
militarization of police work from a fresh, provocative angle.

Any examination of cops acting like shock troops usually gets tied to 
institutional racism of American policing, and with good reason. 
"Peace Officer," though, takes place in Utah, where African Americans 
make up less than 2% of the population. Here, the subjects of various 
police departments' incongruous military tactics include a 
37-year-old ex-Army paratrooper who grows marijuana in his basement, 
an unarmed 21-year old woman vaguely suspected of buying drugs, a 36 
year-old firefighter in the middle of a nervous breakdown and a man 
accused of being AWOL in a case of mistaken identity. All are white.

The film's inspiring septuagenarian hero is William "Dub" Lawrence, a 
former sheriff in Davis County, Utah. He masterfully reconstructs 
chaotic crime scenes as he traces the missteps of SWAT teams and 
narcotics task forces for Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber, the 
movie's co-directors. Conscience and obsession drive him on. In 1975, 
he established his state's first SWAT unit. Thirty-three years later, 
he watched it kill his son-in-law.

As a young, forward-looking sheriff, Lawrence decided that deploying 
elite teams with exceptional firepower was the best way to halt 
episodes of escalating violence, whether they involved rioters, 
snipers, bank robbers or guerrillas. He didn't envision SWAT teams 
being summoned to manage a domestic violence call.

But that's what happened on Sept. 22, 2008, when Brian Wood, the 
firefighter who married Lawrence's oldest daughter, snapped during a 
fight with his wife. He used 911 to say he had assaulted and raped 
his wife (she said that never occurred), then holed up in his truck 
with a loaded gun that he pointed at himself.

When just two policemen were on the scene, Lawrence assured Wood's 
dad that they knew what they were doing. Then the troubled man was 
swarmed by SWAT teams, equipped with flashbang grenades, pepper 
pellets, tear gas and impact bullets. The two fathers looked on 
aghast at the spectacle of law and disorder. They stayed out of the 
way, as commanded - right through the moment when a police sniper 
fired the mortal shot.

As Lawrence cracks the mysteries behind this and other tragedies, the 
movie's larger issues snap into focus. When did police displays of 
"overwhelming" force - a domestic version of "shock and awe" - become 
acceptable for matters as routine as marijuana busts? How can the 
ruptured bond of trust between police and community be repaired?

The moviemakers slip in some excellent experts, such as Radley Balko, 
author of "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's 
Police Forces." They trace the rise of special weapons and tactics 
units from the Watts riots to the war on drugs, and they pin the 
proliferation of military equipment in police departments to 
government programs that re-routed surplus armaments from both Gulf Wars.

Lawrence is the key to the film's success. A magnetic character, he 
beams like a slimmed-down Santa because he lives for excavating the 
truth beneath official disinformation. Radiating energy and 
curiosity, he's a great camera subject, whether sitting between walls 
covered with crime-related photos or tracing bullets' trajectories 
with colored strings that form webs of death.

Police chiefs in "Peace Officer" insist that they employ military 
equipment for the safety of their officers. The impression left with 
the audience is that once this equipment is available, it will be 
used. To that extent, this movie demonstrates that police 
uber-violence is a problem that extends beyond race.

[sidebar]

'Peace Officer'

No MPAA rating

Running Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

Playing: Nuart, West L.A.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom