The first refers to highly militarized police forces, which are an official part of a nation’s security forces. Leaders may turn to these informal or unofficial paramilitaries because they are less expensive than regular forces, or because they can help them evade accountability for violent repression. Some other federal forces, such as Customs and Border Patrol, or CBP, also fit this definition. The United States is nearly alone among established democracies in creating a new paramilitary police force in recent decades. Studies have also found that more militarized police forces are harder to reform than less-militarized law enforcement agencies.