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FBI's Unique Role in the United States Law Enforcement Community

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a unique role in the United States law enforcement community. The FBI is not a national police force, unlike other nations (such as France, Italy, Spain and Columbia) where patrol units and first responders are organized under the national government. The FBI is purely an investigative and intelligence agency and focuses on cross jurisdictional crimes and national security issues. Its stated mission is “To protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners” (FBI.gov). …show more content…

Protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes;
4. Combat public corruption at all levels;
5. Protect civil rights;
6. Combat transnational and national criminal organizations and enterprises;
7. Combat major white collar crime;
8. Combat significant violent crime;
The time is near for the next strategic plan to be published, and comments made by FBI Director Robert Mueller indicate that the FBI’s priorities may be shifting yet again: ““We are developing and putting into place a different structure for the FBI that reflects the particular threat today. My own belief is that as we look to 2010, as we look further in the future…increasingly the FBI’s mission will be to address transnational threats because…we are the intersection between the threat overseas and state and local law enforcement”. Rightfully so, Director Mueller has recognized the growing threat from transnational organized crime and will hopefully he make it a top priority in coming years.

The reason that international organized crime should be a top priority for the FBI is that it represents the greatest chronic criminal threat to the safety and well-being of American citizens and to the national security. This is not to say that the other seven items that were FBI priorities from 2004-2009 are unimportant, but they pale in the frequency and magnitude at which international organized crime affects America. Certainly, terrorism

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