Impact of Terrorism in the US Today

by Tina Handrick

Introduction

On September 11, 2001 the United States of America changed forever. This was the day that the U.S. realized how badly a job they were doing on making sure that this country was protected from outside attacks and corruption. There were many lives lost from the terrorist attacks 

September 11 2001 Bell in Saint Paul's Church next to Ground Zero (Photo credit: Whiskeygonebad)

that happened on September 11, 2001 and a huge blow to our country. On this day there were two planes that crashed into the twin towers in New York and another plane crashed into the Pentagon, in Northern Virginia, and a forth plane went down in rural Pennsylvania which was meant for Washington, D.C. thanks to the heroic effort of the passengers on that plane. Thousands of people lost their lives this day, many people lost a loved one, a wife, a husband, mother, father, brother, sister, grandmother, and grandfather over something as senseless as another man’s greed and thought process.

Terrorism Impact

Since September 11, 2001 there has been disagreements on whom and how information should be shared within the network of public and country safety. Police Chiefs, Mayors, and City Managers have criticized the FBI for being too secretive about its counterterrorism investigations 

English: The Seal of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. For more information, see here. Español: El escudo del Buró Federal de Investigaciones (FBI). Para obtener más información, véase aquí (Inglés). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(E.J. Delattre, pg. 413, 414). They believe that to make the best use of their manpower and the local knowledge in safeguarding the public the police are in need of the information that the FBI has regarding any terrorist suspects, networks, potential local targets, and any other likely attack that could be in the works. Terrorism prevention doesn’t only depend on mutual candor and cooperation from local, state and federal agencies it could also benefit from creating a first response program that allows a better response from police, firefighters, hazardous materials experts, hospitals and other emergency personnel. If prior knowledge is known throughout these types of organization about potential terrorist threats that are pending then maybe some of what happened on Sept. 11 can be avoided in the future.

On October 26, 2001 President Bush signed into law the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (U.S.A. Patriot Act), this new law enlarges the surveillance and search powers of federal agencies and expands their authority to share among themselves information and intelligence, including previously secret grand jury information. It allows for greater information to be shared with foreign governments. It grants the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service access to criminal history records and other materials maintained by the National Crime Information Center and expands federal authority to deny admission to any alien “who has been associated with terrorist organization and intends while in the U.S. to engage solely, principally, or incidentally in activities that could endanger the welfare, safety, or security of the U.S.” (Section 411).

Seal of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), USA. — “Servicing Our Citizens” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Homeland Defense from terrorism requires police to undertake a larger mission to the public and government. Now police have to commit their personnel and budgets to expand to include new antiterrorism assignments, at the cost of other priorities, which means that the people and community that it serves suffers. Because police now have to move their officers around to now include historic sites and other targets of terrorism now it means taking away from areas that still have crime and the possibility of that crime rate going back of because of the changes. Sure these agencies receive money to help with some of the cost but with the rising economy, and the loss of jobs the streets just do not have the amount of police present that it needs to stop other crimes from happening. Most police agencies are already spread thin and when you add more work and fewer officers then you are looking at more criminal activity and corruption.

Social Stigma

Social stigma varies vastly from country to country. Depending on a country's foreign policies, including countries they are possibly at war with, or have immigration issues with another, the social stigma attached to certain ethnicities or creeds can have a great effect on the public. This attitude from the general public, or rather, sections of the public prejudice against other sections can directly influence law enforcement. Islam has perhaps been the biggest source of social stigma in the Western World over the past decade or so.

People argue and discuss with protestors at the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 While Islam is a peaceful, global religion with over a billion Muslims, the religion's reputation has come under unfair scrutiny because of insane or terrorist individuals. This is largely due to terrorist factions hiding behind the protection of their religion to justify their own misguided intentions that what they believe is what should be. After September 11, there was wide spread animosity towards people of an Asian ethnicity, often regardless of their religion; many Hindus, Sikhs and members of other religions were harassed indiscriminately just because of what or where they might have come from. The American Christian belief is that you can have your own religion without prosecution or ridicule; the same should be applied to any other country as well. Just because they may have a few rotten apples we should not judge all of them and put them in the same basket.

 These events and news stories cannot help but influence an individual's outlook of things. While the law is supposed to judge all members of its society equally and fairly, the people enforcing these laws are individuals in their own right. They may have professional codes of ethics to abide by, but in some situations, an officer of the law's own perceptions of threats can weigh in, sometimes for the better, and sometimes unfairly. It’s very important that when doing a job an officer is not looking at the color of a person skin but on how that person may be behaving and their mannerisms.

Ethical

Police abuse of force and police corruption usually follows accord with each other. If 

September 11, 2001 (Photo credit: wallyg)

an officer goes out and deals drugs or steals evidence to sell out on the street, is just as bad as having an suspect in custody and using force to obtain a confession or information that can be used against them or others in a court of law. It is everyone’s right to be treated fairly and without due harm. If someone is treated when in custody then anything that they have said could be thrown out of court due to the way the information was obtained and if their lawyer plays the right cards. Police officers need to use their training when dealing with potential suspect, or corruptive thoughts. You should follow the policies and procedures that your agency has so that you don’t have to worry about crossing any lines. If there are any other personnel that you know that are committing such crimes, ethically and morally you should report them to your supervisor as soon as possible with any proof that you might have attained. Some of the examples of this would be

·         Excessive use of deadly force

·         Excessive use of physical force

·         Discriminatory patterns of arrest

·         Patterns of harassment of such "undesirables" as the homeless, youth, minorities and gays, including aggressive and discriminatory use of the "stop-and-frisk" and overly harsh enforcement of petty offenses.

·         Chronic verbal abuse of citizen, including racist, sexist and homophobic slurs

·         Discriminatory non-enforcement of the law, such as the failure to respond quickly to calls in low-income areas, and half-hearted investigations of domestic violence, rape or hate crimes.

·         Spying on political activists.

·         Employment discrimination -- in hiring, promotion and assignments, and internal harassment of minority, women and gay or lesbian police personnel.

·         The "code of silence" and retaliation against officers who report abuse and/or support reforms.

·         Overreaction to "gang" problems, which is driven by the assumption that most or all associational activity, is gang-related. This includes illegal mass stops and arrests, and demanding photo IDs from young men based on their race and dress instead of their criminal conduct.

·         The "war on drugs," complete with overboard searches and other tactics that endanger innocent bystanders. This "war" wastes scarce resources on unproductive "buy and bust" operations to the neglect of more promising community-based approaches.

·         Lack of accountability, such as the failure to discipline or prosecute abusive officers, and the failure to deter abuse by denying promotions and/or particular assignments because of prior abusive behavior.

·         Crowd control tactics that infringe on free expression rights and lead to unnecessary use of physical force (N.A., 2004)

If for any reason anyone in an agency behaves in this manner then it would be a good idea to turn them into I.A. (Internal Affairs) and make it clear that you are not a part of the situation. Having strong ethics is a must when you are serving the public, you are constantly being judged from those that you are protecting and if for any reason the community is to doubt your judgment it could make it hard for them to trust you.

Training

When a new officer goes through training he/she goes through classes that can make it easier for them to deal with the public and the criminal elements. Hopefully this new recruit already has good ethics instilled into them because at this late date it is hard to change a person outlook in life

English: FBI Mobile Command Center in Washington DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of the jobs that an officer has to undertake are:

·         Patrolling their districts, responding to calls for service, conducting preliminary investigations, investigating traffic related incidents, writing reports, pursuing and detaining suspects, and making arrests

·         Enforcing traffic and parking laws

·         Participating in Community Policing activities

·         Working with other police department units as well as other local, state, and federal entities

·         Preparing for and attending court appearances

·         Participating in mandatory and elective training

·         Keeping proficient with firearms

Learning how to use critical thinking skills is a plus when you are faced with a situation that doesn’t allow you to make a mistake. Training should be done every year as a refresher course so that you have the tools that you need in case there are in changes to policy or regulations.

Conclusion

Since September 11, 2001 the way that people look at each other in America is different. They are either against everything that the bombing has changed or they have united against it but one of the things that is more upsetting is that a lot of American’s are forgetting, and when that happens that allows for it to happen again.  All law enforcement agencies should help each other when it comes to terrorist threats and not withhold critical information when it is needed. The security 

US Navy 060911-N-9578C-002 Sailors from USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) read names of New York Fire and Police Department members who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

in America should be on top of the list to make sure that what happened on September 11 never happens again. By stopping some of the immigration into our country for a while can help keep some of these people out that can cause such destruction. The U.S. has enough inner turmoil that having outside terror as a constant threat just seems to be another layer of pressure on the law enforcement agencies.

References:

Ethics in Policing Character and Cops By: Edwin J. Delattre 2011

Plano Police Department; Assignments: http://www.plano.gov/Departments/Police/Employment/Pages/assignments.aspx

Preventing Police Abuse: PoliceCrimes.com http://www.policecrimes.com/police_abuse.html

Social Control and the Policing of Terrorism: Foundations for Sociology of Counter-Terrorism; http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/zpolterror.html

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Today’s Investigative Special Report – November 6, 2012 “Dealing With Today’s Law Enforcement Specialized Investigations” “Should Your Community Pay The Tab For Political Rallies?”

By Lawrence W. Daly, MSc

Forensic Expert – Senior Author

President Obama has scheduled a visit Keene State College to promote his candidacy for the office of the Presidency of the United State. The crowd is over 1000 partisans who are at the College to support their candidate. There are law enforcement officers at each entrance, special details cover the inside perimeter, and others assist the Secret Service deal with the details of the Senators visibility to the crowd, his entrance and exit out of the college, and other responsibilities.

It is probably an awesome event for someone to attend, but the question is raised reference who is paying for law enforcement to assist the Secret Service in protecting the Senator from the crowd or outside individuals and organizations which want to bring harm to him? This question is one which is complex when trying to answer it.

Depending on the city, county or state law enforcement agencies that provide manpower for these rallies the costs to protect and serve the politician and those who organize a political rally may costs the local taxpayers a significant amount of money.  Therefore, depending on the financial agreement between the politicians and the city, county or state administrators where the event is to take place, there may be a reimbursement for the protection they provide prior to, during, and after the rally.

In the City of Keene, New Hampshire, then Senator Barack Obama and then Senator Hillary Clinton had political rallies at two locations. According to research, both campaigns paid for the hiring of law enforcement officers to handle crowds.  The cost of hiring law enforcement officers is not an inexpensive process. In the City of Keene for each officer hired, it cost the campaigns $56.00 an hour to have a law enforcement officer present and controlling the crowds.

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The costs across the nation are similar with some law enforcement agencies being more or less expensive. Most of the hourly wages are determined on what the law enforcement agencies or promoters will have to pay the officers and how much money the city, county or state or promoters want to profit from the event. Moreover, the local law enforcement unions may have a required fee the law enforcement administrators or promoters will agree to pay. Some of the officers hired work their daily shift and then travel to the event where they are assigned a position. This is considered an off-duty job and therefore either the law enforcement agency will pay for the officer’s time, or the political event coordinator/promoter.

The policy when Secret Service requests assistance from the local law enforcement agency, the agency will incur the costs. This policy and procedure depends upon the demands of the Secret Service and the size of the event. The greater the event in reference to the size and the number of people who will be attending may end up costing the campaign or Federal Government.

The law enforcement agency may require specific law enforcement officers to attend and be a part of the training which is necessary prior to the event occurring. An officer needs to know specifically what and where they will be assigned prior to the event. Further, the Secret Service and Criminal Intelligence will have intelligence about potential danger areas, individuals, and organizations that may be a problem prior to, during, and after the event.

Yesterday while President Obama was in the battleground state of Ohio, President Obama found himself on the receiving end of heckling from a pro-life advocate. According to LifeNews.com, “The pro-life protester held up a cardboard sign that read “this moral wrong should never be a constitutional right.” The sign included some grisly photographs of aborted babies.”

In August, 2012, while Mitt Romney was speaking to a group of supporters in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Sunday night alongside his newly selected running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-W), was heckled by a protester in the audience. But Romney took the opportunity to forcefully shout down the protester and admonish him for his lack of respect and civility.

Most hecklers at political events are shouted down by the audience and asked to calm down and listen to the speaker. Law enforcement will move in on hecklers who fail to heed the warning which is generally given by the audience or the politician. Hecklers vary from disagreements with the political candidate to just being obnoxious because others will listen to them for that special moment and time.

The Hatch Act of 1939, officially An Act To Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law whose main provision is to prohibit employees (civil servants) in the executive 

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, 2008 US presidential candidate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

branch of the federal government, except the president, vice-president, and certain designated high-level officials of the executive branch, from engaging in partisan political activity (Wikipedia, n.d.).

The reason the Hatch Act is of importance is it regulates what a civil employee can and can’t do when it comes to political activities. The Act does not limit one’s right to participate in a political campaign, but their behavior as long as it follows the Act will not cause them any repercussion. Law enforcement officials are limited to what is permissible and impermissible when it comes to their political activities. An example of what is permissible and impermissible is as follows:

It is permissible for officers to:

• Attend fundraisers, display yard signs, or bumper stickers, and attend political rallies;

• Give a speech or keynote address at a political fundraiser, so long as the officer is not on

duty and does not solicit contributions. The invitation for the speech or address may have the

officer’s name, but may not solicit contributions or state the officer’s official title;

• Canvass for votes in support of or in opposition to partisan political candidates or a candidate

for political party office;

• Endorse or oppose a partisan political candidate in a political advertisement, broadcast,

campaign literature, or similar material, so long as the officer is not on duty and not wearing a

uniform, badge, or insignia;

• Run for any nonpartisan office (The entire election must be non-partisan—if any candidate in

the race runs on a partisan ticket, the candidacy of the officer is not permitted under the Act).

A nonpartisan race is not covered by the Hatch Act, and the officer may therefore solicit and

receive political contributions;

• Write a personal check to a political candidate;

• Participate in a committee for a lodge regarding endorsements of candidates, so long as the

endorsement comes from the labor organization and not an individual police officer, and the

duties do not involve personal solicitation, acceptance, or receipt of political contributions.

It is impermissible to:

• Allow one’s name or likeness to be used in campaign literature in the police officer’s

professional capacity;

• Host a fundraiser for a political candidate and recruit attendees using the officer’s official title

(however, a spouse who is not covered under this Act may host such a fundraiser and the

officer may attend, but may not personally solicit contributions to the fundraiser);

• Allow the officer’s name to appear on an invitation to a fundraiser as a sponsor of the

fundraiser or as a point of contact for the fundraiser;

• Engage in campaigning during working hours;

• Use any official authority for influence for political purposes, including using the officer’s

official title or authority to coerce individuals to participate in political activity;

• Run for any elected partisan office;

• Solicit, accept, or receive uncompensated individual volunteer services from a subordinate for

any political purpose. (Fraternal Organization of Police, n.d.)

Law enforcement officials either participate in rallies or are employed by the law enforcement agency they work for or are associated with. However, due to their position in law enforcement they have to and will follow the rules of the Hatch Act. It would seem the Federal Government would try to associate other professions into an Act which monitors and requires specific behavior. However, the First Amendment provides for the right to participate in protests and etc. The issue of which is more compelling, is something which needs to be researched.

Citizens in each community where a political rally occurs need to monitor who is paying for what. In small towns where there are minimal law enforcement officers and their budget is based on local taxes, the campaign and/or Federal Government needs to repay the cities for the expense of having their officers work the political event. It is important to have law enforcement officers in place to protect any politician but the costs if at all possible should be paid by the politician and the event organization. If you had a political rally in your city, county or state have you checked to ascertain who paid the tab?

Lawrence W. Daly

www.onedaly.com

206-650-0229

onedaly@onedaly.com

Kent, WA

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