Local Law Enforcement’s Role in Anti-terrorism and Home Land Security

The intensity of the September 11 attacks on American land led to massive destruction of property, besides leaving thousands of innocent civilians dead. To many, the attacks revealed just how vulnerable the United States was to the furious hand of global act of terrorism. The lessons learnt from the tragic incidences goed immediate action on the part of the federal regimen, culminating in what became cognize as the war on terror whose overall objective was to completely eliminate, or at to the lowest degree minimize the dominance danger posed by terrorists and terrorist institutions spread all over the globe.Beginning then, the passage of arms against terrorism has become a shared responsibility, with various security measures, intelligence activity and equity enforcement agencies voluminous in checking terrorist activity. both(prenominal) of the major responsibilities include contrive included training on technologies such as airborne interpellation equipment, rescui ng hostages and using anti-terrorist weaponry. Although most of these have been assign to specialized task forces such as the military and the Delta force, a comminuted evaluation also depicts the local enforcement agencies as instrumental in fighting terrorism and enhancing issue security.Indeed, the attacks led to a significant redefinition of the business office that federal, state, as well as local law enforcement authorities ought to play in as far as the prevention and interdiction of terrorist activity in the U. S. is refer (Middlemiss and Gupta, 2007). Besides the traditional place of acting as tiny incident managers and first responders, these agencies have been assigned a new task that of handling the uncertainties occasi unmatchabled by the threat of terrorism.The Role Played By local anesthetic Police Agencies in the Fight against Terrorism. As opposed to the military whose main preoccupation is that of protecting the sphere from eternal aggression, the main dom ain of local law enforcement agencies lies in the provision of homeland security. Due to the many security connections that state and local officials have established with institutions such as the Intelligence Community and the auberge in general, they usually tend to have an upper hand in detecting and preventing terrorist activity (Sauter and Carafano, 2005).It is in view of this cosmos that governments within the state and local levels have since embarked on an initiative of establishing antiterrorism and counterterrorism programs. The breeder entails the justificatory or passive strategies employed to curb terrorism, while the latter involves proactive measures such as act terrorist perpetrators and supporters (Sauter and Carafano, 2005, p. 261).In essence, the failure of such initiative to suffice in equipping law enforcement personnel with the introductory as well as specialized skills of fighting terrorism implies that the local law enforcers assisted by another(preno minal) personnel would be the in the forefront should a terrorist attack occur. A preliminary train carried out by the Police Executive Research Forum in 2001 found that the local police force played a vital responsibility in critical incidence response, information and intelligence sharing, enhancement of company stability after a major incident, and the establishment of multi-agency task forces (Police Executive Research Forum, 2003).However, one of the most remarkable findings of the survey was the strong belief expressed by these law enforcement agents that they were now approach with an expanded single-valued function of terrorism prevention in such subfields as increasing fellowship policing systems, intelligence gathering and information-sharing with the civilian fraternity. Nevertheless, training and conversancy with the nature of global terrorism as well as the need for upgrading terrorist attack-preparedness emerged as critical components if these agencies are to pe rform a greater role in antiterrorism initiatives.Since 2001, the role of local law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism has been transformed from a relatively amorphous form into a more distinct one with specific responsibilities and tasks. One of the areas in which the local police have outrided to play is in the domain of terrorism prevention. In essence, the very complex nature of terrorism and terrorist groups makes it impossible for the federal law enforcers to effectively handle the threat posed by global terrorism. functional in close collaboration with the local communities, the local law enforcers have played a critical role of collecting vital information on personalities suspected to have links to terrorist groups. A critical evaluation depicts these agencies as better placed to make a objective assessment of community security fears and concerns identified as critical in effective fathering of intelligence information, particularly considering the abilit y of community policing to use up citizens, foster collective problem solving, and encourage information sharing based on mutual self-confidence (Middlemiss and Gupta, 2007).By receiving and sharing information with state as well as federal agents while at the same time maintaining confidentiality especially in reference to sensitive information, the local police have been, and continue to be of great help in the fight against terrorism. Other terrorism prevention initiatives that they could be involved in include the identification, evaluation and reduction of the terrorist threat posed to local targets (Sauter and Carafano, 2005). Another domain in which the local law enforcement agencies should be actively involved in is in the domain of critical incident prevention, preparations and response ().One of the traditional roles in which the local police have been involved in is preparing and quickly responding to disasters such as Katrina. With the increasing threat of global terr orism however, such an approach has convertiblely been transferred to terrorist operations. such efforts have included initiatives geared towards the derivation of early warning systems to detect the possibility of a terrorist attack. However, this role has also been expanded to security operations enhancement as well as establishing emergency medical examination teams.Besides, they have been involved in the establishment and implementation of local critical incident plans essential in the evaluation of the various waves of domestic and global terrorism (). However, the successful management of terrorist scenes requires that the local police stool in close collaboration with state and federal agencies. Although numerous precautionary measures have been down the stairstaken to prevent terrorist attacks similar to 9/11, the possibility of another attack, either by a foreign or domestic organization can not be ruled.As witnessed in 2001, such deadly attacks cause unprecedented tr auma on those involved or their relatives. Thus, the local law enforcement agencies have to work closely with the local leaderships and the community in general in ensuring that such individuals recover from post-terrorist trauma. This could involve adopting effective strategies to alleviate the fear of potential attacks in future. In accession, the local police have to brace themselves with the complex security expectations that the affected community may place, including the provision of information and other extra services (Lyons, 2002).Besides the maintenance of manpower handy in handling various terrorist challenges, local law jurisdictions have the responsibility of availing the resources necessary to implement antiterrorism and counterterrorism initiatives. Indeed, the reallocation of existing resources as well as the identification of new ones goes a long way in improving the security-preparedness of state and local officials (Sauter and Carafano, 2005). Such resources ha ve been deployed to upgrade the capabilities of old security units in addition to establishing new ones.However, majority of the state and local authorities have increasingly faced numerous counterterrorism figure constrains which have posed as significant obstacles in the initiatives aimed at scaling up security measures. A number of these security initiatives have been funded by the federal government. Notably, the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security was aimed at consolidating most of the federal aid inclined to homeland security within the new department under the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness (Sauter and Carafano, 2005, p. 64). Some of the activities currently funded include the provision of equipment as well as training of officers on domestic counterterrorist procedures and activities. Nevertheless, the limited funds availed have sometimes precipitated a reduction of existing security functions, for instance, redirecting l ocal intelligence fraternity from the traditional role of unraveling organized abuse to that of countering terrorist activity.Conclusion. Although relative calm has been witnessed since the 2001 attacks on American soil, the fight against terrorism is far from over. This calls for concerted efforts amongst all the stakeholders involved. establish on past experience, the local law enforcement agencies can indeed play a pivotal role in the antiterrorism and counterterrorism initiatives. These not only include the initiation of preventive strategies, but also extend to prompt response during actual attacks, as well trauma management.However, various factors continue to present insurmountable challenges in the realization of this noble mission. Particularly, a significant number of local law enforcement agencies still grapple with the reality of maintaining a balance between the fight against terrorism on the one hand and deterrence, and prevention of other crimes on the other. In esse nce therefore, greater federal support and cooperation is essential in supplementing the efforts of local law enforcement agencies.