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

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.