Table 3 - uploaded by Joseph A. Schafer
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Percentage of Agencies Taking Measures to Enhance Homeland Security Preparation Since 9/11, by Region
Source publication
Though homeland security has been the focus of ample rhetoric since the 9/11 attacks, empirical accounts of actual innovations in local American policing have been lacking. This study considers the measurement of homeland security innovations within small municipal departments in the state of Illinois. Using survey data, the analysis examines perce...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... items were divided into a set of ques- tions specific to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and a more general set of steps many agencies have taken to enhance their information acquisition and analysis functions. Table 3 displays the percentage of agencies reporting they had taken com- mon measures to enhance their homeland security preparation and responsiveness. as would be expected, steps requiring extensive devotion of personnel time were uncommon. ...
Context 2
... Table 3, agencies were asked to report on 10 possible changes. On average, the agencies had implemented 2.75 of these steps; Cook and collar county agencies reported an average of 4.42 steps, contrasted with 2.81 for agencies in urban counties and 2.40 for agencies in rural counties. ...
Context 3
... results of the factor analysis were then saved as regression scores and used in the path analysis as the measure of risk. Preparedness was an additive index comprised of the 19 dichotomous measures and activities described in Tables 3 and 4 (α = .858, M=4.71, SD = 3.54, min = 0, max = 14). ...
Citations
... If they are even aware of it, investigating human trafficking cases may be especially burdensome, as police in small and rural municipalities must combat crime and other public safety issues with limited financial resourcesa growing concern of small and rural municipal officials (Donnermeyer, 2015;Kaylen and Pridemore, 2015; The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 2019). However, we know little about small and rural police because most research on police focuses on large, urban departments (Johnson and Rhodes, 2009;Lord et al., 2009;Rhodes and Johnson, 2008;Schafer et al., 2009;Weisheit et al., 2006). Thus, the purpose of this project is to assess human trafficking perceptions among police serving in small and rural areas. ...
... Another explanation for this unexpected finding could be the measure itself. In any event, this is an interesting line of inquiry for future research to exploreespecially in small and rural departments, which are understudied (Aguirre et al., 2017;Johnson and Rhodes, 2009;Lord et al., 2009;Schafer et al., 2009;Weisheit et al., 2006). ...
Purpose
Research on human trafficking largely focuses on large, urban areas, yet it is a problem in small, rural areas. Police in these areas must have the training to identify human trafficking and resources to combat the issue – both of which may be lacking in small, rural areas. The purpose of this project is to explore police chiefs' perspectives on human trafficking in small, rural areas.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach was used to assess Pennsylvania police chiefs' understanding of human trafficking and their perspective of the extent of the problem in their area. First, 349 police chiefs completed an online survey during the summer of 2020. Follow-up in-depth interviews were conducted with 52 police chiefs.
Findings
Most chiefs believed human trafficking is a problem in Pennsylvania (81%) or in their local area (12%). Logistic regression analysis indicated chief experience, department budget and the number of employees affect small and rural police chief perceptions of human trafficking. Qualitative analyses identified three themes of police chief perceptions of human trafficking: conflation with prostitution, definitional debates and competing beliefs about prevalence. Training on identifying human trafficking would benefit small and rural police departments. Chiefs recommended outside assistance investigating human trafficking cases and other state-level resources would be helpful.
Originality/value
Scant research exists on small and rural police departments in the United States, especially in regards to human trafficking. This study contributes to the literature by addressing this gap with a mixed-methods approach.
... Police departments were more likely to adopt the policies when they experienced outside pressure from other law enforcement agencies Carter 2016). Mimetic isomorphism also helps explain the diffusion of techniques such as crime analysis software, hate crime reporting, and homeland security strategies (Burruss, Giblin, and Schafer 2010;King 2007;Schafer, Burruss, and Giblin 2009;Willis, Mastrofski, and Weisburd 2007;Wilson 2005). This past research has measured the spread of policing policies. ...
What makes police departments change their practices? Do they transform in isolation, or do they mimic their neighbors? Combining insights from organizational theory and urban sociology, the authors argue that organizational change diffuses, in part, through physically proximate institutions. They apply this theory to an underexamined trend: the decline of misdemeanor arrests in the United States between 1990 and 2018. The study first explores the spatial dynamics of low-level law enforcement by graphing and mapping trends across a range of metropolitan types, finding that suburbs made the fewest low-level arrests and central cities reduced their arrests the most during these years. A spatial autoregressive panel data model reveals that police departments decreased their misdemeanor arrests more when nearby departments did so, net of crime rates and other controls, evincing spatial mimicry. Police reform efforts need not target only state and federal governments but can diffuse outward from city-level changes.
... Since rural area policing has received less attention from researchers (Mawby, 2004;Schafer et al., 2009), many crime prevention measures have been adopted from the policing experiences in urban areas (Buttle et al., 2010). These urban-based policies are sometimes considered equally compatible with the rural context (Schafer et al., 2009). ...
... Since rural area policing has received less attention from researchers (Mawby, 2004;Schafer et al., 2009), many crime prevention measures have been adopted from the policing experiences in urban areas (Buttle et al., 2010). These urban-based policies are sometimes considered equally compatible with the rural context (Schafer et al., 2009). However, since policing in rural areas can be quite different from that in metropolitan areas due to their different geographical characteristics and the limited number of police officers (Buttle et al., 2010), rural municipalities must plan and implement crime prevention initiatives which fit their contexts. ...
The study proposes a new method of crime analysis combining data from multiple secondary data sources (census, open crime data, and social survey) to assess the risk of victimization and crime prevention behavior in resource-limited settings. Principal component analysis was performed on municipal-level census data ( n = 1,883) to generate a rural index that represents the ecological characteristics of each municipality across the urban–rural continuum. Multilevel logistic analyses were then applied to crime incident data ( n = 207,771) to assess the municipal-level effects on victims’ use of locks in motor vehicle and bicycle thefts. A linear pattern of victimization was found for bicycle theft (the risk was about one-thirtieth in the most rural municipalities than that in the most urban municipalities), while the pattern found was nonlinear for motor vehicle thefts. The analysis also revealed that victims in rural areas were less likely to have locked their vehicles before they were stolen than those living in urban areas. Using the rural index developed in this study, police forces can have a better understanding of crime problems in their jurisdiction across the urban–rural continuum. The study discusses the implications of the results for crime prevention and problem-solving policymaking in the urban–rural continuum.
... Another shift since 9/11 is that local police have become integral parts of the national security system (Schafer, 2009). They are responsible for investigating local tips reported by the public for terrorism credibility and passing on pertinent information to the FBI. ...
... They are responsible for investigating local tips reported by the public for terrorism credibility and passing on pertinent information to the FBI. Local police are also essential for protecting critical infrastructure (Schafer, 2009). ...
... This study found that even though officials in rural departments rated perceived threats of terror to be low, the majority of departments have been taking steps to ensure that they are prepared for a terror attack. Some of these preparations have included assigning liaisons to other agencies, training staff on terrorism preparedness, and participating in terrorism-related field training exercises (Schafer, 2009). ...
There was a marked change in policing after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. While much research has examined this change in other areas of the country, less is known about how 9/11 impacted policing in Maine. To fill this research gap, the present study examined police officers’ perceptions of job change since the 9/11 terrorist attack. Data from semi-structured interviews with ten police officers were analyzed using focused content coding. The data analysis revealed three general themes that represent how police officers thought that their jobs had changed: (1) national security, (2) local policing, and (3) fusion centers. This paper concludes with recommendations for police and policymakers on the future of local policing.
... The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City, Arlington, VA, and near Shanksville, PA forced a change in local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies' policing priorities and methods (Alizadeh, 2015;Anderson, 2014;Bliss, 2016;King & Brinser, 2016;Carter, 2014;Giblin, Burrus, & Schafer, 2014;Haynes & Giblin, 2014;Roberts et al., 2012). Law enforcement agencies have traditionally focused their efforts on crime prevention and disaster response (Brinser & King, 2016;Carson, 2014;Schafer et al., 2009;Yeager, 2014). The 9/11 terrorist attacks, however, exposed critical deficits in the United States' homeland defense strategy leading up to the attacks, specifically in the failure to share intelligence across law enforcement agencies from the local to federal level ( ...
... State and local law enforcement were now expected to participate in this information exchange, expanding the roles of local law enforcement in homeland security (Alizadeh, 2015;Brinser & King, 2016;Carter, 2014;Nordyke, 2014;Randol, 2013;Roberts et al., 2012;Schafer et al., 2009;Schaible & Sheffield, 2012;Smith, 2014;Thomas, 2014;Tromblay, 2015). To illustrate the character particular to 9/11 policing and its impact on rural local law enforcement, this section begins with an overview of the historical structures of local law enforcement in general. ...
... The findings also revealed that agencies engaged in terrorism prevention tended to experience statistically higher rates of violent crime than agencies engaged in terrorism response planning. The findings aligned with the literature regarding the characteristics of agencies that adopt homeland security and intelligence-policing models (Alizadeh, 2015;Giblin et al., 2014;Yeager, 2014;Roberts et al., 2012;Schafer et al., 2009). ...
On September 11, 2001, the United States experienced multiple high-casualty terrorist attacks that our nation’s federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies seldom envisioned occurring, let alone plan for such horrific events. These events had a subsequent profound effect on our criminal justice system and those in positions to protect the public from such events. In 2002, Congress passed H.R. 5005 Homeland Security Act of 2002, establishing a new Department of Homeland Security at the federal level. The establishment of a federal agency charged with protecting the homeland had a ripple-like effect on law enforcement practices and ultimately in information and intelligence sharing among federal homeland security agencies and local police departments. However, the problem is that there appears to be a lack of effective information and intelligence sharing between federal homeland security agencies and local police departments. This mixed-method convergent concurrent study was to examine to what extent the level of information and intelligence sharing between rural local law enforcement in New York and federal homeland security agencies prevent threats to the security of the northern border in New York and to explore the best practices for identifying and prioritizing remediation of gaps in sharing homeland security-related information and intelligence. The population of the study were individuals who are working in Northern New York with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies. For the quantitative phase of the study, 100 participants were asked to answer a survey questionnaire online. For the qualitative phase of the study, 12 participants were asked to answer a semi-structured, open-ended survey questionnaire. A systematic analysis and coding of the quantitative and qualitative survey data were conducted. The findings of this study have confirmed assertions made by previous literature as to why gaps in interagency communication on homeland security occur. Issues of infrastructure such as adequate intelligence training, incoherent chains of command and sharing practices, a lack of funding to law enforcement departments in rural areas, and conflicting rules that make intelligence sharing impossible due to the possibility of violating a law or clearance protocol all have contributed to communication gaps.
... Police agencies across the United States have been tasked with participation in a counterterrorism and homeland security in a post-9/11 environment (BENS, 2016;Chermak et al., 2013;Donnermeyer, 2002;Schafer, Burruss, & Giblin, 2009;U.S. DHS, 2007U.S. DHS, , 2013. These traditional agencies have to pivot to address homegrown terrorism in a fashion that is unfamiliar and complex. ...
The sharing of homeland security information is a crucial aspect of modern policing in the United States. This article outlines some of the obstacles to information sharing at the state and local levels, including interagency and intra-agency issues that arise for police agencies. It explores the complexities of information sharing across a highly decentralized policing system. Many police departments lack a formal intelligence function that limits their ability to share information. This article offers an organizational change model using John Kotter’s Leading Change principles that police agencies of any size can follow. It outlines Kotter’s eight-stage process from establishing a sense of urgency through anchoring new approaches in the culture to create a framework for police departments to integrate homeland security information sharing. Its intent is to provide a framework for police agencies to incrementally implement some of the recommendations of the various strategic documents that guide information sharing.
... This despite the fact "approximately 80% of the 17,000 local police agencies in this country are located in small towns and rural communities" (Bartol, 1996). While police research has been ascendant in the last half century, the majority of this work has been on the culture and methods of police officers in urban environments, ignoring the possibility of a different habitus developed by rural officers (Schafer, Burruss, & Giblin, 2009). Much of the findings of that research have been generalized to rural agencies, with little thought given to potential differences (Wolfer & Baker, 2000). ...
... For instance, researchers interested in community policing strategies have often assumed rural agencies experience the same distrust and suspicion from citizens as do their urban counterparts, despite the substantial body of evidence that the relationship between rural police and their constituents is significantly different (Weisheit, Falcone, & Wells, 1994). Similarly, many researchers make the mistake of assuming the general duties and responsibilities shouldered by rural law enforcement are directly comparable to urban police, again despite the growing evidence rural police encounter significantly different challenges and reward structures (Barrett et al., 2009;Schafer, Burruss, & Giblin, 2009). What these many studies miss is that rural police are not simply undertaking the same tasks in a different location, but rather that they are operating in an distinctively different field and developing a distinctive habitus, as "a rural area is not simply a physical place but a social place as well" (Weisheit et al., 1994, p. 564, emphasis in original). ...
... As will be discussed in more detail to follow, a number of studies have applied an innovation framework to the adoption of promising policing practices, most namely community policing. More recently, the innovation diffusion research has focused on homeland security practices (Burruss, Schafer, Giblin, & Haynes, 2012;Schafer, Burruss, & Giblin, 2009) as the new era in contemporary policing (Oliver, 2006). Intelligence-led policing (ILP) is an emergent policing practice for local law enforcement at the intersection of community policing and homeland security. ...
... Agency Size data were taken from the 2007 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Survey and represents the total number of full-time sworn and nonsworn personnel. Although the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan states "all agencies, regardless of size, must have a minimal criminal intelligence sharing capability" (Global Intelligence Working Group, 2003, p. iii), size has been shown to have a positive effect on community policing (Maguire, Kuhns, Uchida, & Cox, 1997;Morabito, 2010;Zhao, 1996) and homeland security (Lee, 2010;Schafer et al., 2009) practices. Agency size demonstrated skewness and kurtosis and thus was transformed using a log transformation, resulting in a normal distribution. ...
... The emphasis of analytic products on crime as opposed to threats and crime may be the result of the fact that many analysts in local agencies share the role of both intelligence analyst and crime analyst (Taylor, Kowalyk, & Boba, 2007) and that crime is the primary focal point of police performance (Nagin, Solow, & Lum, 2015). Consistent with studies of community policing Morabito, 2010;Zhao, 1996) and homeland security (Lee, 2010;Schafer et al., 2009), agencies size (b ¼ .29, p < .000) ...
Previous research employing an institutional theoretical framework posits environmental factors play an integral role in the adoption of police practices. The present study applies this framework to examine the adoption of intelligence-led policing (ILP). Data from a purposive sample of national intelligence personnel from 254 agencies are used to employ both a measurement and structural model to explain ILP adoption. Weighted least squares estimation is employed through an asymptotic distribution free function to estimate the measurement and structural equation models. Models exhibit good fit indices, while institutional pressures, among others, had a significant and positive effect on ILP adoption. Findings support the role of institutional pressures in the diffusion of police practice. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.
... Similarly, agencies serving larger populations perceive high levels of risk to attacks (Gerber et al., 2005;Randol, 2012). Small police agencies are also vulnerable to attacks despite the belief that planned attacks occur only in metropolitan and urban environments Haynes & Giblin, 2014;Henry, 2002;Ortiz et al., 2007;Schafer et al., 2009). Collectively, recent literature has found that small police agencies perceive lower levels of risk of terrorist attacks than large police departments . ...
Organizations are expected to assess and respond to environmental conditions. For police agencies in the post-9/11 and post hurricane Katrina era, the environment includes assessing the threat posed by terrorism and disasters. We use organizational contingency and institutional theories to predict the permeability of local police chiefs’ assessments of various environmental threats and what factors affect the sensing process. We use survey data from 350 police agencies to explore the dimensionality of agency assessments on disasters, accidents, and terrorism. Our findings indicate that local police chiefs view environmental threats as having three dimensions. Additionally, institutional sovereigns have a greater influence on agency assessments of threat than do contingency factors.
... Caruson and MacManus (2006) suggest that security provision by US municipalities and counties has been shaped by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the pervasive 'War on Terror' (also see Aradau, 2010;de Goede, 2008;Daase and Kessler, 2007). Related research has focused on public police, including how DHS is transforming public police practices across the US (Greene, 2011;Maguire and King, 2011;Schafer et al., 2009;Fosher, 2009;Stewart and Morris, 2009). As well, there is a small amount of research on the DHS Urban Area Security Initiative that funds local government security managers (Lakoff and Klinenberg, 2010). ...
We explore what we refer to as municipal corporate security (MCS) units, a new form of security organization that differs significantly from public police and private contract security. Based on 36 interviews with MCS managers in 16 cities across Canada and in the United States, we examine how in-house security practices developed in private corporations are being transferred to municipal governments. We draw from the sociology of security governance to demonstrate how the Department of Homeland Security funding and policy has shaped MCS in the US since 2001. The absence of similar centralized funding and policy for MCS in Canada has led to more piecemeal policy transfer, fewer links to federal government or national security, and more focus on nuisance policing than anti-terrorism. We also engage with the sociology of security consumption to argue that governments should be conceived as major buyers of security goods.
