The Role of the Local Police in Responding to the Threat of Terrorism - Term Paper Example

? The Role of the Local Police in Responding to Terrorism The Role of the Local Police in Responding to the Threat of Terrorism Introduction In September 11, 2001, the United States was struck by what is now considered as the most deadly and destructive attack launched by terrorists in its own backyard. For decades before this strike, which killed thousands of American civilians and destroyed billions of dollar worth of properties, the terrorists had only made significant successes against the U.S. in foreign soil. With 9/11 as the harbinger, however, it is clear that terrorists have managed to bring the war in American soil. This situation has naturally resulted in the need for the local police to play an important role in the prevention of terrorist acts as well as the apprehension of perpetrators who may belong to any terror group, whether domestic or international in origin. At the moment, there may still be a need for the local police to fully appreciate this role in homeland counter-terrorism and develop strategies and tactics that would give a concrete expression of it. It is clear that the usually more equipped and trained defense machineries of the government are already occupied with the offensive side of the war on terrorism. In line with the theory of pre-emptive warfare, a great part of the U.S. military’s might have been stationed outside of the homeland, particularly in regions of the world where the concentration of foreign terrorist organizations is heavy. The orientation of the different branches of the armed forces is towards forward deployment. Under this circumstance, the question about who is going to watch the rear demands an urgent answer. It is clear that the federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and even the respective state’s national guards may not be enough because of their inadequate number and concentration. The local police forces, on the other hand, have two advantages in this regard. Although they are not concentrated, they have a bigger number of personnel that could be mobilized for counter-terrorism. Secondly, they are more dispersed with distinct smaller areas of jurisdiction, making it possible for them to monitor dubious and illegal movements more convenient and effective. It is in these contexts that the potential of the local police forces in anti-terrorism are appreciated. I. The Limitations of the Local Police Force With the lethal attacks launched in 9/11 and the possibility of more similar strikes in American soil, convincing key leaders of the local police regarding the need to take a proactive stance against terrorism is not difficult. It is a fact that after 9/11, the top officers of the New York Police Department, as well as that of the other major urban centers in the country, have acknowledged to reorient their personnel and to include counter-terrorism as part of their roles and responsibilities. However, there is also the reality that the local police simply does not have the training and the equipment which could be utilized for the purpose of determining potential threats, investigating possible suspects, and apprehending them before the terrorist action is committed and, thereby prevent the loss of lives and the damage to properties. More importantly, the intelligence capabilities of the local police are not as sophisticated as that of the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency. The intelligence data, as well as the dossiers built through the years on key leaders and operatives of different terrorist groups, have not been made accessible to the local police forces, as these remained under the exclusive control of the FBI, the CIA, and other defense and intelligence machinery of the federal government. In this respect, “the tremendous demand now being placed on police agencies to collect information and provide it a central clearing house in order to develop and coordinate intelligence on terrorist risks throughout the country” (Hasisi et al 2009, p. 193). It is clear that when it comes to intelligence gathering, the police must rely on its coordination with the agencies that have more advanced capabilities on this matter. It is indeed necessary for the limitations of the local police force to be first determined in order for the correct solutions to be ascertained. However, even as the limitations are pointed out, the strengths and the potentials of the local police also deserve emphasis. This is to make sure that the limitations are no glossed over to the point giving the impression that these are insurmountable. It must be pointed out also the that according prominent officials of the police William Bratton and George Kelling that the police must be made to play an important role in counter-terrorism because of two factors; “(1) terrorism is not really much different from conventional crime and (2) local police are in the best position to learn about the emergence of local terrorist threats, to know which targets are most at risk, and to coordinate the first response to attacks” (Newman & Clarke 2010). These two factors also happen to be the strengths that the local police has. These could certainly be optimized further in order to improve the police over-all capabilities in combatting terrorism. Before the local police force could be reoriented to include counter-terrorism in its role as a law enforcement body and certainly before it could be mobilized for it, it is necessary that its personnel should first be made to undergo training and re-equipment. It is expected that the members of the force had already completed the basic courses in crime fighting and prevention. Introducing concepts making them grasp it in theory and practice should no longer take a longer time and in a tedious process. After all, the differences between common criminals and terrorists are not very significant; at least in terms of methods and organization. In fact, the similarities between terrorists and organized criminals are many. Terrorists are known to engage in activities that definitely fall under the definition of common crimes, such as robbery, smuggling, fraud, and extortion, as means of financing their operations. Newman and Clarke pointed out that “from a policing point of view, there is much to be said for regarding terrorists as criminals with political motives” (2010). This only explains that the re-training process for the local police in order to make them ready to perform their new role as a counter-terrorist force would not require a long period and neither would it make an overhaul of the concepts, techniques, and tactics that have already been taught to the personnel. II. Fighting Fear and Ensuring Order amidst Terror Terrorism is essentially an unconventional warfare launched by non-state armed groups against government and the people in general. It is apparent that the individuals and groups that are carrying these out do not have the strength in terms of number and quality of operatives and weapons that are powerful enough to inflict an enemy with more advanced military equipment and a larger well-trained armed force. In order to hurt the government that it considers an enemy, a terror group resorts to launching attacks that create fear and chaos among the populace. Unlike armed revolutionary groups, particularly those of the radical left, terrorists do not rely on the support of the disenfranchised masses. Instead, they do not hesitate to strike at civilians as a means of realizing political goals. Sean Kay explains terrorism “is a tactic designed to achieve a political objective by using violence against innocent civilians to generate fear” (2006, p. 228). Terrorists wish to create so much fear among the people as to render the government isolated and incapable of ruling stably any further. Since the tactics of terrorists aim to create fear, the primary role, therefore, of the police is to ensure that the people as much as possible remain calm and orderly. Fighting fear therefore is a responsibility that the local police should uphold. When there is information regarding an impending terror strike, the police are expected to play a role in support of the federal law enforcement bodies and the intelligence and defense community in preventing this. When a terror strike did occur, the local police take the role of the rear guard; ensuring the restoration of order while playing support once again to lead agencies, usually consisting of the FBI and the intelligence community, in investigating and apprehending the perpetrators. It is possible that some sectors or individuals in the local police would denigrate this role of leading the fight against fear among the public and ensuring order because they feel that being at forefront of actually running after the terrorists is more significant. This concept, however, should certainly be rejected. The fight against fear is, in fact, the very essence of counter-terrorism. It is not enough that terrorists are caught or neutralized; the people should also be calmed down and put into order. David Altheide aptly articulated it when he wrote that “fear limits our intellectual and moral capacities, it turns us against others, it changes our behavior and perspective, and it makes us vulnerable to those who would control us in order to promote their own agendas” (2006, p. 210). It is clear that if even if a bombing inflict little damage and no death at all, the effect it may cause is enough fear to create chaos in society, which actually serves already the purpose of terrorism. The role of the police in providing the public a sense of order and stability is essentially a deterrent to fear, one which obviously deprives terrorists of any reason for declaring success. With an actually terror attack as devastating as 9/11 though, it is understandable that the public is easily pushed into panic whenever there are threats raised or mentioned, especially though the mass media. The role of the local police is to provide an assurance that such threats are being verified and that actual steps are being taken to prevent it. Of course, these are not just PR-related duties. Behind these pronouncements, personnel are actually being mobilized to eliminate the threat with the coordination with the FBI and the intelligence and defense community. In order to realize its role in reducing the effect of fear among the population, it would be necessary for the local police authorities to design a plan that would effectively lessen the impact of the risk. However, it must also be pointed out that the risk-reduction plan itself should not be a by-product of fear. As much as possible, fear must be reduced first even among the ranks of the planners in order to achieve objectivity. Newman and Clarke clarified that it is only when fear is effectively reduced, that the police would be able to “formulate a more rational risk-reduction plan” (2010). III. Intelligence Gathering and Coordination The local police force definitely has an advantage over the FBI and the intelligence services such as CIA and its counterparts in the military when it comes to collecting information. The CIA has an edge in determining the international connections of terrorist personalities and operatives in the country. The FBI also has the advantage when it comes to information regarding the links among other terrorist cells in the different states. However, it cannot be argued that the local police, if given the orientation and training, have the capability of taking the role directly monitoring individuals suspected of terrorist connections at the ground level. Because they are more familiar with the social terrain in a locality, the police could actually conduct surveillance in the most effective manner, which is an activity that is not unlike the casing or sting operations that the police normally do against criminals. Since the number of the local police would certainly be bigger than agents of the FBI and other agencies tasked with counter-terrorism, this could indeed be considered as vast reserve supply of personnel that could be employed for covert intelligence operations within the locality. The local police’s role in gathering intelligence for the purpose of counter-terrorism, however, could not be realized without a healthy coordination with other intelligence and investigation services of the government. The local police could indeed serve as the microscope of counter-terrorist intelligence because it could focus on a particular area of which it is very familiar with by devoting a sufficient number of personnel. However, without knowledge of the bigger picture, it may fail to initially make an analysis of the information it has gathered. In fact, it may not even be able to determine the appropriate actions. For example, it may conduct a surveillance on a certain personality of which it may have suspicions of being linked to a terrorist group but could not confirm it in any way because of the limitation of its intelligence reach. However, once it coordinates with the CIA or the FBI, the local police may get information about the real identity and affiliation of their object. It is in this regard that there really is a need for coordination between the local police and the other federal intelligence and investigation services. With a law clearly stating the need for coordination between law enforcement bodies and the intelligence agencies, the role of the local police force in counterterrorist intelligence operations have been further defined. This law is the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Under this law, the president is required to “facilitate sharing terrorism information among all appropriate federal, state, local, tribal, and private security entities through the use of policy guidelines and technology” (Hess & Orthmann 2011, p. 328). Through this law, the usual problems of coordination are easily resolved. The experience before regarding poor coordination had resulted in the breakdown of intelligence because conflicts emerged among the intelligence, police, and security agencies. Among the most common sources of conflicts are withholding of information, disputes on jurisdiction, and lack of cooperation. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, however, has encouraged cooperation and unity among the concerned agencies. This has resulted into better interoperability and, therefore, improved counter-terrorist response effectiveness. IV. Conclusion The role of the local police in preventing and responding to terrorism is just as important as the pre-emptive operations being conducted by the country’s military and intelligence services conducted abroad. In fact, by ensuring that fear is not spread and intensive and extensive intelligence work on the locality is conducted, the local police may well be considered also as a force that is being employed for pre-emptive counter-terrorist operations. All the other tasks and responsibilities that the local police must perform are basically covered by the two major roles of fear reducer and intelligence gatherer. According to Bayley and Weisburd, these tasks are “covert detection, disruption/dismantling of terrorist plots, risk analysis, target hardening, community mobilization for prevention, protection of important persons and infrastructure, emergency assistance when terrorism occurs, mitigation of terrorist damage, criminal investigation of terrorist incidents” (2010, p.87). However, due emphasis must also be given to the point that in all these tasks and roles that the local police may have in preventing terrorism, coordination with the FBI, the CIA, and all other defense and intelligence agencies under the federal and state governments must always be ensured. This is because the police clearly have limitations in terms of capable anti-terrorist strike forces and advanced weapon and intelligence technology. These limitations and weaknesses could be overcome with augmentation from the said services of the government. References Altheide, D. (2006). Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. Bayley, D. and Weisburd, D. (2009) Cops and Spooks: The Role of the Police in Counterterrorism. In D. Weisburd et al (Eds.), To Protect and to Serve: Policing in an Age of Terrorism. New York, NY: Springer. Hasisi, B. Alpert, G. and Flynn, D. (2009). The Impact of Policing Terrorism on Society: Lessons from Israel and the US. In D. Weisburd et al (Eds.), To Protect and to Serve: Policing in an Age of Terrorism. New York, NY: Springer. Hess, K. and Orthmann, C. (2011). Police Operations: Theory and Practice. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning. Kay, S. (2006). Global Security in the Twenty-first Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Newman, G. and Clarke, R. (2010). Policing Terrorism. Darby, PA: Dianne Publishing. Read More