Professor Eric Fleury pens op-ed about police reform
In an op-ed published in the Hartford Courant, Assistant Professor of Government and International Relations Eric Fleury addresses the systemic links between America’s treatment of civilians overseas and the need for police reform at home.
To better understand how to approach police reform, Fleury argues that it’s important to look at the way the U.S. conducts itself abroad with its military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies in relation to foreign civilian populations.
Fleury cites recent measures taken by the Trump administration to block investigations into alleged war crimes committed by American military forces in Afghanistan as one example of how our conduct abroad can help to justify a system of injustice at home.
“Nearly 20 years of warfare have provided a steady stream of personnel, equipment and tactics for police forces across the country, many of whom have recently deployed against peaceful protesters as though they were enemy combatants. When the White House attacked the [International Criminal Court] immediately after urging that law enforcement 'dominate' protesters, the relation between the two is unmistakable …” Fleury writes in part.
Fleury joined Connecticut College in 2019. He is the author of On Absolute War: Terrorism and the Logic of Armed Conflict.
