Community Policing's Role in Counter-Terrorism Efforts

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Federal law enforcement does not participate in community policing, but they still can get the benefit of what local law enforcement do in community policing. Since there has been an improvement in communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement with sharing information (Johnson, B. R., & Dorn, S. 2008) and the use of fusion-centers the information community police officers get can go all the way to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or the FBI. The lack of shared information some argue is a key reason why 9-11 was not prevented (Best Jr, 2007).
The United States Office of Community Policing Services (COPS) has applied the principles of community policing to lessen the fear of terrorism and prepare and prevent any such attacks (Lyons, 2002). This was done by promoting citizen involvement and external partnerships, using problem solving, implementing crime mapping, collecting data and using analysis protocols, assessing terrorism vulnerability, and using organizational transformation (Docobo, 2005). This was an important step after 9-11 to try and decrease the fear of many communities in regards to terrorism and to limit the …show more content…

This has made U.S. officials to call, “homeland security hometown security” (Dahl, E. J. 2014) Local police are likely to arrive first at a terrorist attack, as they were at 9-11 and during the Boston bombing so having the right training is crucial for them. Since local police officers are likely to be the first to contact a terrorist and a terrorist attack, it is important to give them more independent decision making power . This will make them more responsible and accountable for taking action in a crisis situation, since there may be no time for decisions to come down from supervisors (Chapman, R., & Scheider,

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