NCJ Number
248559
Date Published
September 2005
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This report examines the Post 9-11 Policing Project, a Bureau of Justice Assistance lead effort to help position State, local, and tribal agencies to proactively manage a changed and continually changing police environment.
Abstract
The September 11 attacks redirected priorities with a suddenness perhaps unprecedented in the American police experience. Homeland security, the constant threat of terrorism on our shores, concern with weapons of mass destruction, and security-related intelligence demands surged to the forefront of State and local policing. Requirements and implications of the Patriot Act, homeland security funding, and equipment and training distribution issues have penetrated the law enforcement enterprise at all levels. With no time for preparation, law enforcement repositioning to confront these demands and issues has been paralleled by 9-11 fallouts, including military (reserve) mobilizations that skim police manpower, material expenditures for overtime and color alert mobilization, and heightened concern for preservation of civil liberties. The Post 9-11 Policing Project, a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) lead effort, pursued four primary objectives: 1) Profile high impact changes, identify and prioritize the forces and demands, currently evident and emerging, that are redirecting the police mission and roles; 2) Capture best practices, assemble information on successful policy, program, and resource deployment responses that agencies have undertaken to address changing conditions, missions, and roles; 3) Craft promising practices, surface or develop policy, program, and resource deployment ideas considered promising for addressing changing conditions, mission, and roles; and 4) Package and disseminate practices, blanket the police community with user-friendly Action Briefs that summarize the best and promising practices information and ideas.