Law Enforcement on September 11, 2001, Almost Essay

Total Length: 676 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

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Law Enforcement

On September 11, 2001, almost a decade past, the world was not only shocked by the events surrounding the terrorist actions against the United States, but the basic mission of law enforcement; local, regional, state, federal, and international, has dramatically changed. Since 9/11, the most basic mission of law enforcement has been to both uncover and anticipate potential terrorist targets and attacks and do anything and everything to prevent them. The events of 9/11 showed that the United States was also vulnerable to attack, causing post-9/11 law enforcement to focus more on planning, communication and prevention of any future attack.

One of the most visible paradigm shifts since 9/11 has been that law enforcement has been forced to being reactive to a complete switch -- not quite proactive in planning, execution and development. This ensues several challenges faced by law enforcement. Despite new legislation, for instance, it is difficult to find "a terrorist." Terrorists are not serial killers, bank robbers, or embezzlers -- although they may be all three (Simmons, 2010).

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Instead, their profiles are often quite banal; and are consistently difficult to find without adequate intelligence. Terrorists may be of any age, ethnicity, religious or educational background, career, gender. They may live anywhere -- from major urban areas to the rural community. There is no set "personality profile" for a terrorist; many "look" like everyday citizens, but for some reason, harbor deep resentments toward organized governments or causes (White, 2008).

Additionally, since 9/11, the idea of "what if" has changed and made the resultant stakes much higher. Biological terrorism, nuclear detonations, disruptions of public utilities, and mass murder are far higher consequences for the American public to digest. Economically, human resources are taxed within the governmental and law enforcement fields that the expertise needed (languages -- especially Arabic, Chinese, etc.; multicultural studies, financial forensics, and technological acumen) are not as available as the demand. Further, since the 1950s, most intelligence has been focused on Soviet Studies due to the Cold War. With the Cold War….....

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"Law Enforcement On September 11 2001 Almost", 08 March 2011, Accessed.20 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/law-enforcement-september-11-2001-almost-49998