Why has the quasi-military approach been favored by the police?

Answer 1

I personally couldn't give you a straight answer. But is seems as if this approach in structure proves to more efficient. If you look at a private security operation, you can see that a lot more responsibility would be given to each Security Officer, as most of it's business is at individual sites, rather than a Police Department, which has a large population under its watch, and within that population, many tasks must be completed to make an effective Police Force. So, the organization with a structured chain of command with different branches or sections would be most effective in managing budgets, and the planning of different operations.

Answer 2

Good question. In my opinion the police departments have always had a military type thinking, but 9-11 has added an emphasis to the thinking. Added to this the government has given/sold departments military equipment and this has given them permission to respond/act in a military style when dealing with issues like demonstrations.