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Policing Proliferation: On Militarization and Atomic Energy Canada Limited's Nuclear Response Forces

NCJ Number
230697
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 52 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2010 Pages: 117-145
Author(s)
Kevin Walby; Jeff Monaghan
Date Published
April 2010
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the militarization of security and police forces occurring in Canada vis-a-vis regulation of the nuclear industry.
Abstract
Based on analysis of access to information or requests, this paper investigates the operations of Nuclear Response Forces (NRFs) on nuclear sites in Canada, including the structural features of these NRFs, and their connections to local as well as national security and policing agencies. The research explores the post-11 September 2001 impact of "design basis threat" assessment and counterterrorism policy on policing operations. Design basis threat assessment organizes security and policing practices according to adversarial models of military operation. The authors argue that the literature concerning militarization of policing must be extended to account for how the coordination of private and public security agencies as well as intelligence agencies at critical infrastructure sites facilitates the distribution of military technology and strategy across numerous scales of policing. Commenting on how militarization of security vis-a-vis nuclear proliferation in Canada is affecting some rural police forces, the authors contend that the design basis threat model of counterterrorism is transforming the strategy and operations of some local police forces working in jurisdiction near nuclear sites. Notes and references (Published Abstract)