9/11 Structural Changes

Another item that has changed since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 was that local law enforcement agencies and the federal government now interact more within one another. Both local law enforcement and the federal government progressed through a variety of “procedural and structural changes” (Marks 166). There were changes after 9/11 that caused federal agencies to have more interactions with local law enforcement than they would have had prior. One of the reasons there was a change among federal and local agencies and their level of interaction was because they wanted to eliminate the possibility of stove piping occurring again. They would communicate more frequently because of “departmental procedures …show more content…
I felt as though it was necessary to talk to some people in the field that I was studying and get their take on changes since 9/11. I spoke with three police officers, all of which were officers during and prior to the 9/11 attacks. Two of them have been police officers since May of 1990, one of whom ranks as a Lieutenant, and the other a Capitan, both from a local police department. The other police officer is a trooper, and he has been a police officer for approximately 16 years. I asked them what their opinions on how law enforcement has changed since 9/11 was, and if there has been a push for law enforcement to participate in counter-terrorism activities. All of the officers I spoke with gave me permission to use what they told me in this paper. I spoke with the Captain first, he told me that since the 9/11 attacks there has been an immense increase in the amount of technology that the police use, he gave cruiser cameras, body cameras, voice recording devices all as examples of technologies that were not in place during 9/11. That which struck me most was that I spoke with all of the officers on separate occasions; …show more content…
The terrorist attacks showed us how much as a country we have to work on in all matters relating to counter-terrorism. There is a distinct difference in the roles of intelligence, they are supposed to collect information that can be used to fight terrorism, and law enforcement, who is also supposed to collect information, as well as create plans to fight and respond to terrorism if it happens. There have been substantial changes relating to intelligence after 9/11, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the creation of regional fusion centers. There have also been changes in how law enforcement is supposed to prevent and respond to terrorism, they are to keep their normal police duties, but also collect information that can be useful in the fight against terrorism. There are many differences between the responsibilities of law enforcement and intelligence regarding counter-terrorism, and there have been immense changes since 9/11 regarding these