The events of September 11, 2001 drastically impacted the criminal justice field. The role of
local law enforcement agencies grew exponentially, and the importance of multiagency
communication became apparent. Local department roles expound upon the six key areas of
policing defined by Schmalleger (2020). Local officers have always assisted in enforcing the
laws, preventing crimes to the best of their abilities, investigating crimes, and apprehending
criminals. However, the actions and ventures police officials are responsible for preventing,
investigating, and policing now include broader crimes. After 9/11, terrorism was the primary
focus, but the current societal environment has widened the scope even more in response to
cybercrimes. To secure peace for their communities, officials and agencies cannot ignore the new
and ever-evolving digital space as malice is no longer restricted to the physical realm. Local
officers are the first to respond and provide critical services to help alleviate the chaos brought
on by any given crime. This remains the reality in instances of cybercrime (Koziarski et al.,
2020). Examples of local level officers waging the first response have come to include scenarios
such as: evacuation after a terrorist attack, emergency medical services, and a multitude of
general security functions (Schmalleger, 2020). Local departments have shifted to more
community-based policing to combat and hopefully prevent crimes. Many departments believe
that community networks are valuable for their potential to gather information. With this shift,
agencies embrace an intelligence-led policing (ILP) and evidence-based policing (EBP). Both
approaches are used to mine information that will ultimately inform police decision-making. ILP
uses community given information, surveillance, covert operations, financial records, electronic
eavesdropping, interviews, newspapers, the Internet, and interrogations to make decisions
(Schmalleger, 2020). EBP assesses thorough research of empirical and peer-reviewed data to
determine best practices and decision making in policing (Koziarski et al., 2020). If not for EBP,
the research of ILP could not be accomplished. Police researcher Lawrence Sherman called for
evidence-based policing to be the new approach to police practices (Schmalleger, 2020). He once
said, “Police officers and staff work together with academics and other partners to create, review,
and use the best available evidence to inform and challenge policing policies, practices, and
decisions.” (Koziarski et al., 2020). This is similar to ILP as it has led to the success of fusion
centers. One of the 9/11 Commission’s criticisms asserted law enforcement agencies don’t talk to
each other as they should. Fusion centers help enhance cooperation between agencies on the
local, state, and federal level (Schmalleger, 2020). They assist in collecting, sharing, and
analyzing information to maximize the personnel who may identify signs of a threat and
intervene (Schmalleger, 2020).
The body of Christ, or the people that are the whole of humanity, are a team (1Corinthians
12:14). The body is not supported by one person, but by all of us. We are one; we are strongest
working together in unity. Teamwork is the key to living life in harmony, and it an integral part in
carrying out God's will. 9/11 demonstrated the police network was critically flawed. Now, police
have an expanded mission which will only continue to expand, but with the resources of ILP and
interagency cooperation, the mission can be accomplished.
Schmalleger, F. (2020). Criminal Justice Today (16th Edition). Pearson Education
(US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9780135770702
Koziarski, J., & Jin, R. L. (2020). Connecting evidence-based policing and
cybercrime. Policing, 43(1), 198-211.
Keith,
Prior to 9/11, police agencies did not see the need to cooperate with one another. The mission of
traditional policing was one showing the department had better resources to find information and
would be the superior problem solver in the end (Lambert, 2018). However, 9/11 set the
expectation for the field of policing to include interagency cooperation. Otherwise, we may have
a reoccurrence. For proper information sharing and preventative plans, local, state, and
federal entities must collect, process, analyze, and disseminate intelligence (Lambert, 2018).
“Ground-level” organizations are vital to the success of homeland security intelligence analysis
and threat assessment (Lambert, 2018). You discussed how “intelligence led policing will have
limited impact if the purpose of the approach is not widely understood”. There would be
challenges to intelligence-led policing if leaders within cooperating agencies did not share a
common vision for the future (Lambert, 2018). If there are no shared goals within agencies, there
can be no plan. “Without Counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are
established.” (New King James Version Bible, 1982, Proverbs 15:22). Unfortunately, this
challenge is still being seen. The strategies on intelligence-led policing are developed from
federal level policing and do not regard the state and local police agencies. In 2013, a
study conducted by J. G. Carter, Chermak, and Carter found 29% of agencies and 16% of fusion
centers were not proficient in intelligence-led policing (Lambert, 2018). Furthermore, federal
entities have little leverage to incentivize police departments to adopt the objectives set in these
strategies (Lambert, 2018). Fortunately, the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council was
formed to develop an organization that can represent all police agencies in the information
sharing process, particularly with developing information sharing policy that affects state and
local policing (Lambert, 2018).
References
New King James Version Bible. (1982). Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Lambert, D. E. (2018). Addressing challenges to Homeland Security Information Sharing in
American policing: Using kotter’s leading change model. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 30(8),
1250–1278.
Carrie,
Did you know fusion centers existed prior to 9/11 in New York and Los Angeles? (de Castro
Garcia et al., 2017) As of 2016, there have been seventy-eight fusion centers created within the
U.S focused on different local and state needs (de Castro Garcia et al., 2017). Furthermore, NSIS
specifies that fusion centers serve as the primary source for agencies to share and receive
information on terrorism (de Castro Garcia et al., 2017). Unfortunately, there is no true rubric for
determining their utility and a period with few to no terrorist attacks only exacerbates the
difficulties of judging these fusion centers. Many state and local governments consider fusion
centers to have a high contribution to an all-crimes approach and believe fusion centers useful
(de Castro Garcia et al., 2017). As fusion centers continue to develop, a variety of training and
technical assistance programs is provided by the DHS and DOJ (de Castro Garcia et al., 2017).
Fusion centers certainly help with an intelligence-led policing goal; however, there are
challenges. For example, national and local agencies typically have different goals and cultures
(de Castro Garcia et al., 2017).
Proverbs 18:2 (New King James Version Bible, 1982) states, “A fool has no delight in
understanding, But expressing his own heart.”. For fusion centers to be beneficial to all agencies,
bureaucratic politics must be left at the door. The cooperation between agencies must be open to
difference of opinion, but also the ability for those involved to have an open mind. Otherwise,
there will be a lack of cooperation and the true goal of protecting the people they serve cannot be
accomplished. You were spot on with your discussion of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. “Two are better
than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his
Companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.”
(New King James Version Bible, 1982, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). It is the culmination of all agencies
that create the most trusted information. When one falls short of having specific information, the
other agency must lift up the one that may fall short as to benefit the whole.
References
de Castro Garcia, A., Matei, F. C., & Bruneau, T. C. (2017). Combatting terrorism through fusion
centers: Useful lessons from other experiences? International Journal of Intelligence and
CounterIntelligence, 30(4), 723–742.
New King James Version Bible. (1982). Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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