Module 1.4: Modern Day Policing
Much has been said about the role of policing over the last few years as it pertains to counter-terrorism, as our world has moved towards an increasingly anxious state of attempting to stop crimes and plots before they happen, similar to the plot of the movie “Minority Report”. Attacks such as 9/11 have caused the world, but especially America, previously almost entirely unscathed by international conflict on its mainland, have caused us to rethink policing, and through legislation such as the PATRIOT Act, surveillance and profiling have become some of the main ways departments try and fight terrorism. As a result, this has caused strain on the communities they intend to serve, as well as putting a serious tax …show more content…
He saw “a great deal of public support for law enforcement following the attacks…however, (that) the public support waned over time, and some individuals became suspicious of him and his fellow officers.” (Burns 45) Muslim communities, as well as any ethnic group associated with the Middle East, began seeing significant increases in hate crimes and suspicion after 9/11, and citizens became concerned to a borderline paranoid level about the looming threat of terrorism, to such a degree that a presidential candidate that recently suggested a total ban of Muslim’s or people from Muslim countries has won massive support country wide for this tough stance on terrorism and assumed perpetrators of said threat. Javier also saw that his fellow officers became “increasingly cynical and believed that antiterrorism efforts were a waste of resources…further, they believed the federal agencies should be, and were, dealing with homeland security.” (45) The taxing nature of constant surveillance and a renewed focus on crime control began to take its toll on Javier’s department, and it became clear that there was a rift developing between the department and the community. A study done on the effects of counter-terrorism on policing in Australia, for example, suggested that “The preventative counter-terrorism legislative …show more content…
Burns mentions that a group of police chiefs across the country made a statement against the Arizona legislature that would give officers broad authority to stop and question any individual suspected of being an illegal immigrants, saying that “the legislation made their jobs more difficult and resulted in more crime (e.g., as it hampered relations between police and immigrant communities), negatively impacted years of progress under a community policing philosophy…”(Burns 41) Likewise, the study on counter-terrorism in Australia says that “Profiling involving the use or race, ethnicity, or national origin…as a basis for law enforcement decisions related to counterterrorism is ineffective in identifying potential terrorists. In addition, profiling can prove counterproductive because it stigmatizes and alienates communities…” (Pickering et. Al 98) No one denies that people will, if given the chance, exploit borders in order to create chaos and death, but trying to combat this by cracking down on every illegal immigrant in the country and beginning a policy of extreme profiling will only
Much has been said about the role of policing over the last few years as it pertains to counter-terrorism, as our world has moved towards an increasingly anxious state of attempting to stop crimes and plots before they happen, similar to the plot of the movie “Minority Report”. Attacks such as 9/11 have caused the world, but especially America, previously almost entirely unscathed by international conflict on its mainland, have caused us to rethink policing, and through legislation such as the PATRIOT Act, surveillance and profiling have become some of the main ways departments try and fight terrorism. As a result, this has caused strain on the communities they intend to serve, as well as putting a serious tax …show more content…
He saw “a great deal of public support for law enforcement following the attacks…however, (that) the public support waned over time, and some individuals became suspicious of him and his fellow officers.” (Burns 45) Muslim communities, as well as any ethnic group associated with the Middle East, began seeing significant increases in hate crimes and suspicion after 9/11, and citizens became concerned to a borderline paranoid level about the looming threat of terrorism, to such a degree that a presidential candidate that recently suggested a total ban of Muslim’s or people from Muslim countries has won massive support country wide for this tough stance on terrorism and assumed perpetrators of said threat. Javier also saw that his fellow officers became “increasingly cynical and believed that antiterrorism efforts were a waste of resources…further, they believed the federal agencies should be, and were, dealing with homeland security.” (45) The taxing nature of constant surveillance and a renewed focus on crime control began to take its toll on Javier’s department, and it became clear that there was a rift developing between the department and the community. A study done on the effects of counter-terrorism on policing in Australia, for example, suggested that “The preventative counter-terrorism legislative …show more content…
Burns mentions that a group of police chiefs across the country made a statement against the Arizona legislature that would give officers broad authority to stop and question any individual suspected of being an illegal immigrants, saying that “the legislation made their jobs more difficult and resulted in more crime (e.g., as it hampered relations between police and immigrant communities), negatively impacted years of progress under a community policing philosophy…”(Burns 41) Likewise, the study on counter-terrorism in Australia says that “Profiling involving the use or race, ethnicity, or national origin…as a basis for law enforcement decisions related to counterterrorism is ineffective in identifying potential terrorists. In addition, profiling can prove counterproductive because it stigmatizes and alienates communities…” (Pickering et. Al 98) No one denies that people will, if given the chance, exploit borders in order to create chaos and death, but trying to combat this by cracking down on every illegal immigrant in the country and beginning a policy of extreme profiling will only