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Impact of Terrorism on Law Enforcement

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Impact of Terrorism in Law Enforcement
The devastating events of 9/11 provided a forewarning to our country concerning the dangers of terrorism. However, it has created a particularly greater impact on the duties and standards expected of law enforcement agencies on all levels (local, state, and national). Law enforcement has begun implementing new tactics in an effort to prevent future terrorist attacks from threatening our national security. One aspect of policing in which terrorism has brought about is the process of information sharing between all levels of law enforcement. Our nation has also witnessed a change from traditional policing to that of a militarized one. Furthermore, after the incidents of September 11th, the …show more content…

8). Therefore, although the attacks of 9/11 generated alterations in our national defense strategies, it additionally adjusted law enforcement policies immensely (Brooks, B. E., 2010, p. 113). It is now more common to have squads of police officers, such as SWAT teams, with specialized training in preventing future terrorist attacks. With exceptions to some officers at the local level, many of these specially trained teams are made up of state and national law enforcement. There are several local law enforcement agencies throughout America that do participate in anti-terrorism training, but on a larger scale many of these local departments lack the necessary training needed to prevent such threats. Therefore, local police departments, who lack special training, depend on the departments that are qualified to aid them. Likewise, the training these lower level law enforcement officers obtain varies greatly than that of state and national law enforcement. Despite the quantity of officers in local law enforcement departments, it is essential that each individual officer undergoes the preparations that are essential to be well equipped for reacting to a threat of terrorism. These preparations are crucial in that local law enforcement officers are often the first responders to these attacks, therefore they should be familiar

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