In recent years, police have become increasingly militarized. While many have written about the racialized nature of police militarization, no studies to date have empirically examined the relationship between racial prejudice and police militarization. Extending prior work on racial demographics and police militarization, we find police at Minority Serving Institutions are nearly twice as likely as those at Predominantly White Institutions to acquire military equipment (Study 1; N = 4,298). Next, we examine the link between racial prejudice and police militarization at the individual- and population-levels using survey and surveillance data. In Study 2 (N = 261) we find a positive association between racial prejudice and support for police militarization, even when controlling for potentially relevant factors. In Study 3 (N = 423,210) we source population-level prejudice from Project Implicit and naturalistic policing data from the Department of Defense, finding that police in states higher in racial prejudice acquire greater amounts of military equipment. Together, these studies inform the role of racial prejudice underlying police militarization.
Minority-Serving Institutions, Race-Conscious �Dwelling,� and Possible Futures for Basic Writing at Predominantly White Institutions
