Municipal Police Departments As Homeland Securtiy Partners

MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS AS HOMELAND SECURTIY PARTNERS

A Master Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty

of

American Public University

by

LETICIA RIVAS

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree

of

Master of Arts

FEBRUARY 2018

American Public University

Charles Town, WV

Introduction

Statement of the Problem

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the World Trade Center towers in New York, local police departments were the first to respond, surely saving lives while assisting victims and working to maintain public order. A little more than a month later, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which authorized the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Tom Ridge was sworn in as its first director about a year later, in late 2002 (Smith, & Hung, 2010). Since then, the DHS has, as a matter of policy, urged all local police departments to engage with the DHS as partners in the homeland security enterprise, and that desire to enlist local police departments in the effort seems to have grown out of that initial attack in 2001, when local police became de facto first responders.

The FBI defines terrorism as violence, especially directed toward civilians, in the furtherance of some political goal. These acts of terrorism are specific, in that they happen in particular, identifiable places, and typically without much, or any, warning. For that reason, when a terror attack happens, the local police will always be among the first responders, along with fire departments and other departments of a municipality. As full partners with the DHS, acting as all-hazards first-responders and in surveillance operations, local police departments would be called upon to respond not just to a terrorist attack that resulted in destruction of property and perhaps even deaths, but to investigate all sorts of suspicious situations, to use the resources of local police departments to expose terrorist networks, and to cooperate with the DHS and other federal agencies to work across jurisdictions in new and unprecedented ways.

The role envisioned for local police departments by the DHS, and further encouraged by a series of Presidential Directives, has only grown in the years since 9/11. Local police departments are now asked to train and equip for, be the first responders to, and direct recovery from not just a terrorist attack, but to be an all-hazards first-responder to non-terrorism related threats, too, such as weather related events (as during and after Hurricane Katrina) and human-caused disasters such as chemical spills and the release of hazardous gasses. There is research to suggest that perhaps not all police departments are equipped or prepared for such a role, which in practice most often means smaller municipal police departments, and that perhaps the Department of Homeland Security might be better served by focusing on those larger municipal departments that are better trained and equipped.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study will be to determine whether the Department of Homeland Security should continue to enlist all municipal police departments as partners in the homeland security enterprise. A fairly large body of research has grown up around this question, with researchers reaching different conclusions, so that there really is not much of a consensus. This study will consist of an extensive literature review to attempt to answer the question of whether or not local police departments are really suited to the homeland security mission, and also whether the DHS really benefits from it. Large police departments, of course, often do have the resources to become full partners with the DHS. But it is the smaller police departments about which there is a more pressing question.

Research Question

Does the DHS benefit from asking all local police departments to participate in the homeland security enterprise, or should the DHS focus its efforts on larger departments that are more likely to be prepared, through better training and superior resources, to be effective partners with DHS?

Research Design

The research design will take the form of a qualitative multiple-case study that will utilize document analysis, personal interviews and reports of past studies in the secondary literature to examine the preparedness of large police departments and smaller ones, and to determine whether the DHS would be better served if it continued it current practice of asking all police departments to participate in homeland security efforts, or whether it might be more effective to concentrate on those departments that maintain a high level of preparedness through training and access to resources.

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