Weapons of war have increasingly found their way into the arsenals of domestic police forces.

Few people know that better than protesters in Bangladesh. During the 2024 student uprising, the UN estimates that as many as 1,400 people were killed – the vast majority of them by firearms used by state security forces.

But over the past few decades, police forces in wealthier parts of the world have also come to look and act more like armies. Leading the way has been the United States, where military tools and methods developed for faraway conflicts have found their way back home, onto the streets.

Hind Hassan travels to Bangladesh and France to investigate the companies providing military-grade equipment to police forces and speak with citizens who’ve been on the receiving end of excessive police violence.