9/11 Police Role

The United States Border Patrol has a mission and duty to protect our borders through regulating laws and preventing illegal terrorists, drugs, and weapons from entering the United States. This has been a clear goal ever since laws have been passed to help secure our borders back in 1924. The need for Border Patrol and the demand for tighter security plans have been increasing due to terrorist attacks on American soil, the presence of radical groups, and a high rate of crime in the United States. The big idea here is that as crime continues to develop so will our border securities. I would like to primarily focus on the current role of the Border Patrol versus what it might have been in years past. Many tragedies have occurred in recent times more than what was experienced years ago. The United States has suffered throughout the year 2000 and continues to suffer from severe threats to the nation. It only makes sense to make changes and tighten our borders in order to help prevent the ongoing crimes. If the Border Patrol does this than the individuals living in this nation will live in a better and much safer environment. Along with their current role, the research on the Border Patrol’s changes that either have hindered their work or made them more effective will be looked into as well.

As stated in the beginning, police officers are extremely outnumbered by the prison and street gangs all over the country; but, with the training that some of these police officers have received and keep receiving, they’re ready to take on any task or person despite

Post September 11, Americans made the massive movement towards anti-terrorism. After the attacks, President George W. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security to help protect the citizens from terrorists. On that note as well, this counterterrorism move impacted law enforcement as well. Their roles grew from community law enforcement to proactively mitigating terrorist activities and intelligence gathering.

The horrific events of September 11, 2001, profoundly altered the way law enforcement agencies conducted business. The creation of new agencies arose, strategies, procedures, and training for law enforcement was necessary to prepare and combat terrorism. In this paper, I will analyze the before and after effects, the events of 9/11 caused in law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and what improvements I feel are needed to keep our nation safe from terrorism.

Law enforcement officers need to be aware of the characteristics and the personalities of the terrorist(s) in order to combat terrorism in the U.S. (Fagin, 2005). Therefore the Law Enforcement officer’s role in combating terrorists is to be involved within the community and have the ability to recognize when something is out of place or does not belong in the community (Fagin, 2005).

8). Therefore, although the attacks of 9/11 generated alterations in our national defense strategies, it additionally adjusted law enforcement policies immensely (Brooks, B. E., 2010, p. 113). It is now more common to have squads of police officers, such as SWAT teams, with specialized training in preventing future terrorist attacks. With exceptions to some officers at the local level, many of these specially trained teams are made up of state and national law enforcement. There are several local law enforcement agencies throughout America that do participate in anti-terrorism training, but on a larger scale many of these local departments lack the necessary training needed to prevent such threats. Therefore, local police departments, who lack special training, depend on the departments that are qualified to aid them. Likewise, the training these lower level law enforcement officers obtain varies greatly than that of state and national law enforcement. Despite the quantity of officers in local law enforcement departments, it is essential that each individual officer undergoes the preparations that are essential to be well equipped for reacting to a threat of terrorism. These preparations are crucial in that local law enforcement officers are often the first responders to these attacks, therefore they should be familiar

Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, recently affirmed that the plan demand from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) included extra counter-terrorism subsidizing for "frameworks to improve data offering around elected, state, neighborhood, and tribal law enforcement." Elsewhere Napolitano portrayed associations with state, nearby, and tribal powers as one of the necessities of the DHS and noted that "partnerships with state, nearby, tribal, and regional offices influence DHS's capacity to recognize dangers and reinforce readiness before an occurrence," and that "information offering between DHS and state and neighborhood governments is especially discriminating to our security."

Terrorist attacks generally take place on a larger scale given the political and ideological reasoning behind the attack. In most cases, state and federal law enforcement agencies take the lead on the investigation and response. However, with most attacks requiring detailed and thorough planning on all levels, local law enforcements agencies are essential to thwarting any potential acts of terror before they occur. The inclusion of these smaller agencies increases the level of preparedness and responsiveness to any potential threat while at the same time, benefiting both smaller and larger agencies.

Some federal government agencies provide terror specific training to local law enforcement agencies. Some of this training is provided by the Department of Homeland Security and can keep police department’s current on policy and procedures that should be followed

mmigrant communities are not only a bastion of information on potential threats unfortunately, they often stand as the victims of terrorism themselves. At the first sign of an attack, a two-fold fear emerges that they will be directly victimized by the terrorists and that those in authority will target them in response (Newman & Castle, 2010). Through a substantial language barrier and a prominent clash of cultures, a heavy mistrust emerges between the police and these immigrant communities. As such, it becomes ever more vital to reach out to these communities through the use of community policing to ensure that all are properly supported and protected.

Police in the United States has had to deal with terrorism for many, many years. Local organizations within the country have the concepts and the equipment to create security networks and the support to have enough resistances and transgressions. U.S. law enforcement has come a long way in guarding our country and security got even better when all the events from 9/11 took place. According to text “While the Patriot Act may be the most recognizable piece of legislation relating to Sept. 11, more than 130 pieces of 9/11-related legislation were introduced in the 107th Congress in the year after the attacks, with 48 bills and resolutions approved or signed into law” (Villemez,2011). September 11, has had the biggest impact on U.S. police since the day that forced us to change our security measures. Homeland security also has some major changes such as better training. Terrorism has a huge impact on US law enforcement. Since Obama has been in office there have been several disagreements in our system to protect our country from illegal immigrants. With a lot of terrorist groups hiring many types of individuals to work for them one way or another and we also have President Obama protecting the civil rights of illegal immigrants coming into this USA making police officers profession way more hazardous and tougher. The American society are essentially behind letting police officers have more authority to do their work and put an end to the illegal migration problem. However,

“We have learned as a Nation that we must maintain a constant, capable, and vigilant posture to protect ourselves against new threats and evolving hazards. But we have also learned that vigilance and protection are not ends in and of themselves, but rather necessary tools in the service of our national purpose.”(Napolitano, 2010, p.iv) In the wake of the September 11th, 2001 attacks our nation has taken upon itself extreme vigilance to ensure the security and defense of the American people. The relationship between homeland security and homeland defense is one that is tightly knit. Each has a very distinct mission set but somewhere along the spectrum they cross over and mutually support each other in the best interest of the nation.

"The public wants a general-purpose emergency service, available to handle problems that arise" (Katz & Walker, 2008, p. 10). The onus of this is left to the police, every hour of the day, every day of the year. Necessitating, through the sheer scope of its responsibilities, a range designation of specific roles best suited to manage its variant maintenances. These both include and supersede the attitudinal perceptions of the community and its observations of specific news events. This ties directly into recognition of a difference from the reality of law enforcement and its popular depictions. Shown through an exploration of current news stories based upon the four basic role perceptions of the police. That is, as a body focused on crime

This scenario is playing out on America’s borders every day. The organization that manages the Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, has become the largest federal law enforcement agency in the nation, and with that distinction comes some scrutiny. Two articles were written, the first by The New York Times, the other by the Associated Press, that highlighted some disturbing trends within the agency. The number of Border Patrol agents more than doubled between 2004 and 2011, when they grew to over 20,000 employees, and that number continued to rise, reaching over 21,000 today. “Since…September 11, 2001, the focus of the Border Patrol has changed to detection, apprehension and/or deterrence of terrorists or terrorist weapons, ” but as the agency uses that motto to grow its, it has become increasingly clear that they are more concerned with keeping certain people out than keeping the border safe.

Law enforcement agencies have been under remarkable pressure to carry out their conventional crime prevention and response activities, plus a large amount of homeland security work, in a time of tight budgets. Private security organizations have been under comparable pressure to execute their conventional activities to guard people, property, and information, plus add to the nationwide effort to protect the homeland from exterior and interior threats, all while watching the profitability of the businesses they serve. One way in which these agencies have been meeting their goals is by forming partnerships that have allowed both agencies to capitalize on the resources and best practices that the other brings to the table.