Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the need for increased counterterrorism (CT) efforts at the federal and state levels has taken the spotlight in public safety efforts. But equally important is the effort at the local law enforcement agency (LEA) level. A report by the U.S. Department of State explained that

The continued threat of terrorism has thrust domestic preparedness obligations to the very top of the law enforcement agenda. . . . [T]his capacity must be considered as much a staple of law enforcement operations as crime analysis, criminal intelligence, and crime prevention.” (U.S. Department of State, 2005)

Terrorism has...

Since its creation in 2003, DHS has administered a series of grant programs to assist law enforcement and other first responders in improving state and local homeland security (HS) grant programs.¹ Grant funding received by state and local LEAs for improvements in CT and HS operations includes funding earmarked for training, the procurement of new equipment and technology, and the hiring of intelligence analysts.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, an important change has been the move toward regionalism: a consistent trend in both grant funding and in federal and state guidance to encourage the adoption of a...

The need for improved sharing of intelligence information between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies was recognized as early as the 1964 Warren Commission report (Carter, 2004). In 1971, the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (NAC) included recommendations in its report that were directed at establishing and operating intelligence functions for state and local law enforcement agencies (Carter, 2004). By the 1980s, criminal enterprises had grown dramatically from drug trafficking to counterfeiting; however, law enforcement intelligence units had neither the expertise or personnel to address these problems effectively (Carter, 2004). Key limitations were the lack...

One of the key questions we sought to answer was how law enforcement’s strategies have evolved to meet departments’ long-term CT and HS requirements. This involves understanding what long-term organizational adjustments were made and how much the CT and HS focus has created new operational demands. It also involves understanding how much of an effect this focus on CT and HS has had on training and officer skills sets needed.

In this chapter, we begin with a discussion of the organizational adjustments made to accommodate the focus on CT and HS: A common theme across all of the case study...

In the previous chapter, we examined some of the qualitative costs and benefits of LEAs pursuing a CT and HS strategy, but it is also possible to quantitatively examine the potential costs of pursuing such a strategy. CT and HS can be financially costly activities for targeted societies. By striking at a variety of targets with a range of methods (such as bombings, kidnappings, or assassinations), terrorists attempt to generate an atmosphere of pervasive fear, and by making such attacks seem random, law enforcement must spend significant resources to protect a wide range of potential targets (Hirshleifer, 1991). For example,...

In this chapter, we examine some challenges that need to be addressed, based on what we have seen from our analysis of five large urban LEAs at the forefront of addressing the new requirements for CT and HS.

Enhancing regional preparedness has had a number of advantages associated with it, including increased coordination of assets and resources across geographic boundaries, developing regional cooperation across many specialties, integrating policies and practices concerning preparedness, and improving information-sharing and access to intelligence about terrorist threats, as well as about crime in general (Jordan, 2010). As found in our study, the UASI grants have...