Building a Better Mouse Trap: Increasing Counter Terrorism Capabilities through Consolidation

Abstract

The current American police model is outdated and does not provide local law enforcement the proper framework to effectively prevent, mitigate, and respond to terrorism. With nearly 18,000 separate police departments in the United States, the current system of policing is individualized, fragmented and disconnected. With the proliferation of so many police organizations, contiguous agencies have overlapping jurisdictional responsibilities and job functions, leading to the waste of precious personnel resources. Exacerbating this issue, radio systems and computerized databases among these law enforcement agencies are dissimilar or not linked, prohibiting local cops from easily communicating. Such technological gaps are the outcomes of a decentralized policing structure that hinder effective counter terrorism capabilities. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, local police must be configured in a manner to maximize the country's counterterrorism efforts.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA445301

Entities

People

  • Christopher O. Vicino

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Congress
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Employment
  • Geographic Regions
  • Geography
  • Health Services
  • Homeland Security
  • Law
  • Law Enforcement Officers
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Radio Equipment
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies