Gathering and Sharing
The appropriate roles for local and federal law enforcement agencies in a national strategy for protecting the homeland is vigilance, intelligence gathering and sharing. When it came to the case of the Orlando Shooter, Omar Mateen, the gun smith told the FBI about him after he purchased the weapons and before he did the shooting. The law enforcement agencies need to take no warning or threat lightly.
Intelligence gathering is very important in law enforcement. Intelligence gathering is a system in through which information about a particular entity is collected for the benefit of another through the use of more than one inter- related source. The sharing of this information from agency to agency enhances
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Sharing is the key.
From what I understand, multiple agencies had information about the possibility of attacks, prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and 9/11. Just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army was providing its information only to the State Department and the Navy was providing its information only to the President (Clausen). Neither the Army nor the Navy shared its information with each other due to friction and infighting and the entire system was in “shambles” (Clausen). The same situation was present in 2001 with lack of sharing between the CIA and the FBI along with infighting (Wright). If they all shared what they had with each other, the attacks may not have happened.
Local law enforcement roles should also include terrorism classes as well as training. Not only discussing their role during an attack but also practicing. Community policing plays a good role in prevention as well. Talking to the people of the community. The local police officer should show his or her face to the people that they serve, even without making a service call. They should get to know the people and the people should get to know them. They should then get a sense of who’s who and what’s what. Local law enforcement should do training with homeland security and other branches of law enforcement.
Local law enforcement is the first-line of defense against terrorism and nefarious agents that wish to harm U.S. persons and interests. Based on the 9/11 Commission’s findings, Congress specifically created the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (OSLLE)(DHS.GOV 2016). OSLLE has two, overarching responsibilities regarding homeland security. First, the organization leads and coordinates DHS policies aimed at “preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disaster” at the local, state, or territorial level(DHS.GOV 2016). Second, it is tasked with serving as a liaison between DHS and local and state law enforcement departments and agencies throughout the U.S(DHS.GOV 2016). Experts note that
Beginning in 2001 Intelligence about the impending nature of an attack was increasing, not only from US Intelligence sources but also from 11 other countries such as Britain, Israel, India, Egypt, Morocco and even a top Taliban commander from Afghanistan (Thompson.) Beginning in August warnings become coming in from everywhere, foreign governments, CIA and FBI sources and so on however, next to none of this information was shared between the many intelligence agencies. In April, NORAD launched a training scenario in which the pentagon was to be incapacitated by a hijacked airliner however the Joint Chiefs of Staff disregarded the scenario as “too unrealistic” (September 11 attacks advance-knowledge debate.) On august 19th the Israeli’s gave US intelligence personnel credible information including, the list of 19 suspected terrorist’s names and the fact that a large aircraft would be the primary weapon involved. The names were not shared by the CIA with other intelligence agencies (Robinson.)
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
The new aged concept of intelligence-led policing seems to be the ultimate answer for advancing criminal activity leading the United States. Everything new though, comes with its fair share of disadvantages and challenges. Some of the disadvantages argued against using this predicative method of policing includes the argument of limited resources, political pressure, information management, data overload, data quality, and adaptation (Casady, 2011 p. 10). Reporting indicates that there is a growing public need for information. The increasing fragmentation of the community, fear and insecurity and the growth of the risk society have generated a massive requirement for increased security and knowledge contributing to political pressure, along
aware of your surroundings and report anything suspicious...”1 This is a simple example of what Intelligence-led policing looks like. Using multiple methods to gain information to help in the apprehension
In other words, local law enforcement officials are usually the first line of defense against potential terrorists as they are more likely to come into contact with each other rather than with federal law enforcement agencies. Therefore, police officers are amongst some of the most important and vital personnel this country has when preventing terrorism on American territory. He also articulated that his description of how local law enforcement contributes to homeland security is not mutually exclusive to terrorism. Local law enforcement officials also field the burden in trying to evacuate a city before a natural disaster occurs and calming or redirecting the general public during a state
While many have welcomed Muslim immigrants to our country and the vast majority have become a welcome addition to our society, there is an undercurrent of militant Islam which is present and remains a threat. It is necessary for the Federal government working in concert with State and local authorities to continue the work which has been done on creating regional and state terror response cells and an information sharing network, but this is not enough. Even the federal information sharing systems available to law enforcement and intelligence agencies have limitations to who can access certain areas and the minimal training provided is not conducive to ease of access or locating information queried. This is a great first step but it must be made more accessible to all Emergency Management
The first mission in the National Planning Framework is known as the National Prevention Framework. While the other frameworks focus on natural disasters and other hazards, the National Prevention Framework is the only framework that focuses solely on the prevention against acts of terrorism on U.S. soil (National Prevention Framework, 2013). The roles and responsibilities involved in the prevention of terrorism do not exclusively fall on the government, but rather a concerted effort by various local, state, tribal, territorial, Federal, non-profit and private sector entities. For this reason, it is important to understand the responsibilities of each entity, from the smallest role to the largest.
In order to utilize State and Local Law Enforcement in law enforcement operations (LEO) we need to look no further than the intelligence fusion center (IFC). It is here that information can be centralized, analyzed, fused and pushed out to the intelligence community (IC) for use in any situation, as long as it is relevant to the investigation. As a basis for this, in 2003, the Department of Justice drafted the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP) in order to guide law enforcement agencies to adopt intelligence-led policing as their primary means of operation. (Dept. of Justice, 2003)
In preparation for my debate on the topics of intelligence-led policing and Compstat policing, I have discovered the many advantages and disadvantages of using intelligence-led policing and Compstat policing. According to Carter & Carter (2009), intelligence-led policing is the collection of and analysis of data relating to crime, used by law enforcement in “developing tactical responses to threats and/or strategic planning related to emerging changing threats” (p. 317). When applied correctly, intelligence-led policing is a tool used for information sharing in identifying threats and developing responses to prevent those threats from reaching fruition (Carter, 2011). One of the advantages of using intelligence-led policing is its incorporation of data analysts. The role of the data analyst in the context of intelligence-led policing allows them to take specially trained analysts to take raw data from information found in reports and translate it into useful information for the officers, allowing the police to deploy resources more effectively and efficiently (Griffiths, 2016). Another advantage is its application through preventative and predictive policing (proactive policing), in which law enforcement take data and identify crucial variables such as terrorism or the emergence of criminal organizations, in hopes of stopping the problem at its roots (Carter, 2011). Terrorism is especially important and emphasized after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers in
Trust and confidence must exist between public and law enforcement. Law enforcement need to develop and maintain community-based relationship with the people; public in many cases are the eyes for the law enforcement, and vital resources in an effort to prevent crime and thwart terrorist activities. Since report form people in the community can make a difference in an effort to track terrorist suspect(s) before causing harm, therefore public must be made aware that terrorism must be prevented in order to have a safe community. I believe no one want to live in a community where there is no safety and security. People should feel comfortable approaching law enforcement with information. If community feels confidence and trusting when interacting
Agencies such as the FBI would work solely to obtain more information with its own prestige being its own priority, and would thus not pool its information with other sources to allow America to effectively plan for a terrorist attack. Also, because of each agency trying to promote itself, many agencies ended up doing the same thing, which was a waste of time and money.
Terrorism is one of the most debated topics in the twenty-first century and this is primarily owed to the 9/11 events, a moment when people worldwide acknowledged that they were more vulnerable than they previously considered themselves to be. All levels of law enforcement got actively involved in and prioritized preventing future terrorist acts from that point on. This meant that law enforcement officers were provided with new responsibilities and that they became a part of homeland security initiatives developed in the states where they worked. Florida has been involved in devising anti-terrorist strategies before the 9/11 events actually took place and the authorities within the state's borders have had to focus on reducing the chances of a terrorist threat happening by directing a significant number of resources toward the concept.
Intelligence collection and apprehension of criminals have occurred for many years; however, with the exception of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, these actions were performed by different organizations. Nonetheless, roles and responsibilities have changed since the attacks on September 11, 2001. Intelligence-led policing and the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing program were incorporated, and fusion centers were established to help gather intelligence from different levels of the government. Although law enforcement at the local, state, and tribal levels aid in intelligence collection, it is important to ensure that intelligence gathered to protect national security and law enforcement
Intelligence is one of the first lines of defense used by the United States to protect the Country against both foreign and domestic threats (Johnson, 2010). There are many ways and methods of intelligence collections employed by the intelligence community such as “spies, eavesdropping, technical sources, and openly available materials” etc (Clark, 2013). Method used also depends on many factors such as available resources, time, agency involved, and intelligence collection source. U.S Intelligence agencies use different collection and analytical method that suit their collection function, structure and pro¬cess. For example, DNI/OSC relies on open source (OSINT), CIA uses human intelligence (HUMINT) tactic, DIA uses measurements and signatures intelligence (MASINT), NSA employs signals intelligence (SIGINT), and NGA utilizes imagery intelligence (IMINT) techniques for their intelligence collections (Clark, 2013).