Couse:
Local enforcement agencies of the law around the world face gradually but complex set of problems with the emergency of globally criminal networks that are globally coordinated and pose threats to the national security. The criminals of the modern day have proved themselves to be transnational in reach and linked by sophisticated networks that are highly adaptive in their thinking, and that has made terrorism to be established as a crime that can be committed locally. In response to these changing criminal trends, the local police are developing strategies and policies that are equally adaptive and networked. The cornerstone of this change of policies and strategies is and should remain convergence.
For local police to meet the challenges posed by terrorism successfully, the time-tested approaches that underscore prevention must converge with the new one that focuses on prediction. For instance, the systems that are designed to protect the sensitive information have been converged with efforts to cooperate and collaborate with partners of law enforcement in the United States and abroad. The local enforcement agencies in the United States have realized that terrorist attacks can be replicated locally supported by local operators and could even be manipulated by local extremists to boost their political agenda. In the bid to counter local terrorism, the policies of information sharing in the United States have improved both horizontally and vertically. By vertically it means between the Federal Bureau of investigation and 17,500 state and local police departments of the nation , while horizontally means among the state and local departments by themselves. These changes of communication have adopted between local and national intelligence units.
Still on the move to combat local terrorism, the US government and federal law enforcement agencies have incorporated police as true partners, and the local law enforcers have themselves rallied. The senior officers from the major city police intelligence units in the nation have joined to form an intelligence commanders group, and they work in concert to share intelligence and ensure smooth cooperation. With the changed policies, the police have the increased responsibility in the part of protecting civil liberties and operating in a legitimate and transparent fashion. However, it has been ensured that the growth of operations that gather intelligence at the local level must be proportionate with the creation of safeguards that are against abuses.
Through multiagency, and multijurisdictional efforts, police can cast a network of trip wires that is redundant to determine whether individuals or even enterprises represent an active threat which warrants investigation or the action of enforcement. But the agencies will need to be adaptive, flexible, and transparent enough to collaborate with one another. The agencies should develop more trusting and meaningful partnerships and create more policies aimed at maximizing the law enforcement resources. The working of these agencies with communities should be improved to the local extremism that provokes the act of terrorism. The policing need to be convergent as a strategy that fights crime and disorder, and the same time creating hostile environments for local and even international terrorists. So the policies have changed, as it has been discussed above.
Racial profiling
Racial profiling can be defined as the practice of targeting individuals for police or security detention on the grounds of their race or their ethnicity in the belief that particular minority groups are more likely to engage in an unlawful behavior. Racial profiling can be termed as a problem which is gaining widespread dishonor in the United States. However, from the statistics from amnesty international, profiling by race, religion or nation of origin has been on the rise since the terrorist attack on United States in September 11, 2001, because legislation to protect against profiling has been insufficient. From the extrapolations based on the census data, about 32 million people have said to have been the victims of racial profiling. This may make it the most important homeland issue that America as a nation is facing today. Racial profiling is a violation of the civil rights of the citizens of United States. Racial profiling does not only affect civilians but also makes law enforcement ineffective. Most efforts aimed at investigating and eradicating racial profiling have failed due to unclear findings and lack of accountability on the side of law enforcement. New measures must be taken alongside the current measures to curb racial profiling. A severe federal program to do the monitoring and surveying police officers of the nation is needed. The public also needs to become extra involved in the efforts of stopping racial profiling. Until such measures are taken, racial profiling will keep on eating away at the nation.
Racial profiling affects both the offenders and law abiding citizens. The innocent people of the minority ethnic backgrounds are stopped, searched and questioned for the reasons that would lead to the interrogation of a driver who is white. The profiling does not only affect the civil rights of entire communities in the name of criminal justice, but it is also a criminal control tool that is ineffective and which ultimately victimizes the people it is supposed to protect, who are the non- criminal public. It is positively abhorrent to force a society dedicated to the ideal of equal justice under the law to put up with unequal treatment because of the color of their skin.
The act of racial profiling is often practiced in areas that need the very strongest presence of the police. For police work to run effectively and most smoothly there has to be trust between the civilians and the officers of police. The widespread perceptions among minorities that they are being targeted by the police because of their color have led to their mistrust in the police. The mistrust harms both the minority communities and the police, therefore, making the police work more difficult. Because the minorities are much likely to be affected, they need effective policing in order for them not to fall victims of violent crimes. The police need to do their job well in order for them to offer these communities the protection they need.
The End Racial Profiling Act was introduced in parliament but it has not yet been passed by the congress. If enacted, the law would give a mandate that any federal law enforcement agency would undergo training as a requirement to deal with racial issues, protect information regarding those who have been profiled and, make ease the process of those who have been profiled to sue and seek legal redress. There are also organizations such as ACLU who are working extensively for the racial profiling victims. The work of ACLU also involves major initiatives in advocacy and public education, including the creation of resources that are essential in lobbying for the passage of anti-profiling legislation. Perhaps, the greatest and most effective support for racial profiling victims the public outcry which results in the initiatives of the grassroots, and change force in how the law enforcement agencies should do their job and how victims are treated.
