Prospective on a New Role for Police: Intelligence - Essay Example

Topic: Prospective on a new role for Police: Intelligence Abstract Police intelligence basically describes an element of the police department whose staff is the police officers and other support staff and is mandated to track and predict crime with the intention of preventing it. The intelligence analysts are given the job of investigating the people that might be committing crimes, how they are engaging in that crime, when, where and why they might be breaking the law. After this is identified, they then come up with an approach that is designed to stop or curb the offences before they can actually occur. The analysts come up with profiles of the crimes that they have been able to identify and also the of the individual subjects that are under observation so that they can come up with calculated and tactical assessments within the borders that are stipulated by the particular police force that they work under. These evaluations and reports are employed to scrutinize and forecast crime at the same time aiming to move policing from reactionary analysis to an investigation that is proactive. The analysts look for any connections that may exist among a broad variety of intelligence sources to come up with conclusions about what might be happening and come up with recommendations on the means that they can use to stop it. This intelligence gathering is done at different levels of policing that range from the local town issues to the crime that affects the whole country. Prospective on a new role for Police: Intelligence The four decades that comprised the Cold War generally had a weighty effect on intelligence as perceived and conducted by the superpowers and their allies, both formal and informal this was not only in relation to organization, technology and priorities but also in ways that were not as obvious. This period facilitated the shaping and development of intelligence as a profession as well as an emerging science. The concept of intelligence succeeded to great heights and continued to succeed even after the major obstacles of warning and assessment that was related to new threats or the reemergence of the old threats that had come up with new contexts (Treverton & Agrell, 2009). The war on drugs has come up with a national system of police intelligence gathering and sharing where the combined federal, state and the local law enforcement agencies carry out their operations in collectively to enable then to collect information and also conduct operations. Proponents look at this process as a strategy that is used in the sharing of or resources and intelligence and point to the cooperation that exists among the agencies and the investigative information sharing systems as the solution to the intelligence problem. The opponents have a contrary view in that many of the police administrators believe that the system is not efficient and they refuse to take part in it while the people that are not in the law enforcement observe the intelligence network and are of the opinion that it is a failure and also an assault of the Fourth Amendment. The section of people in support of this position consider the whole operation to be ineffective and the real loser will consequently be the civil liberty and freedom. Critics believe that the attempt to collect criminal intelligence simply leads to labeling certain persons or groups without really making changes in the amount of crimes that take place (White, 2012). Police intelligence depends on a variety of information sources that are aimed at policing the force whereby the intelligence led policing can be described as a business model and also a management philosophy in that the analysis of data and crime intelligence are central to a particular objective, the making of decisions that facilitate the reduction of crimes and the problems that are associated with it, disruption and prevention that is accomplished through both tactical management and effective enforcement strategies that are aimed directly at the offenders that are considered to be serious (Gottschalk, 2009). Police intelligence or the systemized and classified as well as analyzed information that has been encoded in the categories that are relevant to the police can be implemented prospectively or retrospectively. Prospective intelligence such as the one that is employed in the case of criminal targeting is gathered before the crime has occurred and is supposed to help in anticipating and controlling the phenomenon of interest. In contrast, the applied intelligence is employed to make a connection between the known acts that have already taken place with the suspects that had been previously identified (Giles, 2002). As a result, the applied intelligence is the foundation of detective work while retrospective intelligence is sought out from the past records that are linked to the current investigations that are in progress. Retrospective intelligence normally takes place in the day to day activities of police work and includes activities such as checking for warrants that are outstanding for criminal suspects that are being sought in connection with events that are ongoing (Giles, 2002). The training efforts that are taking place in crime and intelligence analysis are directed at further improving prospective and applied intelligence within the police organizations though retrospective intelligence remains a chief area where advanced communication and information technologies may be able to extend the capability of the police officer (Giles, 2002). Police gather and collect intelligence that is relevant to security service at two distinct levels which are the police force area and the regional level and this effort is organized in terms of priority and directed by the group that is mandated to coordinate the force. The concept of police regions in which the operational activities that cover more than one force boundary are normally coordinated and developed in embryonic. It is therefore in this area that the Security Service through the regional offices that it has established interacts with the special branches to conduct intelligence collection and intelligence development endeavors (Jackson, 2009). A challenge that the intelligence-led policing faces is the creation of a capacity to collect, scrutinize, prioritize and use information in a well thought out manner with the aim of achieving the mission which is associated with organized crime based on problem-oriented policing. Intelligence led policing however generates a different set of problems since due to the exclusivity of the information, and those that are mandated with the generation of service delivery, there will be a gap in the subscription that will have resulted from the application of the intelligence-based philosophy. The ones that are still involved in patrols will remain to be responsive but in this case to information that has its genesis possibly from any source and from the interested parties that have more often than not been unsuccessful in the delivery on local agendas that exist within the service community and also the patrol corps. Conclusion The development of police intelligent systems which are independent within individual territories is an indication of the progressive spread of intelligence systems and joint intelligence committees exist so that they can easily oversee both the police and the army intelligence (Emsley & Shpayer-Makov, 2006). Each and every law enforcement agency that operates in the United States, no matter the size, should have the capability of appreciating the repercussions that are associated with the collection of information, its analysis and the sharing of intelligence. Each of the agencies should possess an apparatus that is organized that is tasked with receiving and managing intelligence as well as having a mechanism that is aimed at taking care of reporting and sharing of critical information with other agencies that are associated with law enforcement. It is imperative that the law enforcement agencies come up with lines of communication channels and protocols that are dedicated to sharing of information with the private sector especially the ones that are related to the important infrastructure and also those that could be possible targets of terrorists and criminal activities. References Emsley, C. & Shpayer-Makov, H. (2006). Police detectives in history, 1750-1950. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate. Giles, H. (2002). Law enforcement, communication, and community. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. Gottschalk, P. (2009). Knowledge management in police oversight. Boca Raton: Brownwalker Press. Jackson, B. A. (2009). Considering the creation of a domestic intelligence agency in the United States. Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Treverton, G. F. & Agrell, W. (2009). National intelligence systems. New York: Cambridge University Press. White, J. R. (2012). Terrorism and homeland security. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Read More