Good Example Of Essay On Terrorism And Homeland Security

Terrorism and homeland security

When it comes to defining terrorism it is not as cut and dry as most would think when they hear the word. The word terrorism is used to define many acts of violence by the media and politicians. An example of how difficult the term terrorism is to define can be found directly embedded in the government as four different agencies each think of terrorism as a different thing. The State department defines it as attacks on “noncombatant departments” (Jacobson, 2015), which has more emphasis on places that military personnel are known to visit often, and military zones that are not currently in a known combat zone. The FBI defines terrorism as any attack that is harmful to the environment, as well as damage to a person’s private property. The department of Homeland Security looks more closely at mass destruction being a terrorism activity. Last the department of defense defines terrorism as any threat not just actual acts of violence with a special emphasis on religious acts which other departments do not do. With all of these different definitions in our government it is no wonder that one solid definition of terrorism can be difficult to ascertain. The government can benefit from the non-conclusive definition of terrorism as it allows them to prosecute more people for the crime if there is a broader spectrum, however it leaves some asking what it really is. To properly define terrorism you have to understand the differences between a terrorist and an ordinary criminal. A terrorist can be just as destructive as a murderer or bank robber however the difference is a terrorist is attempting to deliver a message through violence and a criminal is just looking to get away with their crime. The violence a terrorist uses when pursuing their particular beliefs is what separates this group from the rest of the criminals in the world and puts them in a different category.
The department of homeland security was created to protect the United States and its citizens from threats of terrorism. Together with other parts of the government the definition that has been given and expanded to explain terrorists and terrorism is “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives, including domestic acts within the definition of terrorism, domestic terrorism” that is defined by “acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State” intended to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion” or affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, that are conducted primarily within the jurisdiction of the U.S. At the time, this expansion of the definition of terrorism was decried by the ACLU as “broad enough to encompass the activities of several prominent activist campaigns and organizations and the department of homeland securities addition, any act that is damaging to critical infrastructure or key resources” (Intelligence, 2012). The definition has to be long so that each branch of the government has the capability to encompass a large amount of criminal activity that falls under each different jurisdiction. It also allows flexibility for growing and changing operations. The department of homeland security takes there main interest in preventing any threats of terrorist activity by keeping up with changing terrorist techniques and activities while cooperating with their other government parts (Security, 2015).
When dealing with terrorism there are many different strategies each law enforcement agency takes to combat terrorism while still protecting the diversity of different cultures? With terrorism being such a wide term and many not understanding the definition of it there can be confusion and law enforcement works with homeland security to respectively combat these activities while combatting racial and ethnic profiling within the communities. Community oriented policing traditionally was responsible for any crimes locally and disorderly conduct issues. However with changes in terrorist activity here on American soil they have now expanded their duties to include any possibility of threats within a community adding terrorist threats to their long list of responsibilities. Community policing is one strategy that these officers use that allows ordinary citizens to help identify any risks or suspicious people in their area so they can work with police officers to combat these issues. Problem solving and organizational transformation are also strategies used by community policing to work with ordinary citizens building a bond that will develop preventative measures for criminal activities. With terrorism being so closely related to criminal activity there is an overall idea that the transition between this normal involvement with the community and the police should be easy when incorporating ideas of finding suspected terrorists. Community policing has one main focus and that is to work together with the community to prevent criminal activities and with training these same strategies are anticipated to work just as effectively on preventing terrorism. To do this an organizational transformation is necessary that will put into effect a few new strategies: Adopting homeland securities polices, training to understand and investigate terrorists, allowing all levels of officers to make decisions about pursuing leads about suspected terrorists and having officers assigned to certain areas which allows them to know anything suspicious in the area more easily. Volunteer resource utilization is equally important like having a neighborhood watch that is trained to identify and report any suspicious activities to law enforcement (Docobo, 2015). All of these strategies are being deployed and developed to help multicultural law enforcement address and prevent terrorism in conjunction with homeland security as the threat becomes more relevant every day in our communities and is no longer just an issue abroad.

References

Docobo, J. (2015). Community Policing as the Primary Prevention Strategy for Homeland Security at the Local Law Enforcement Level | HOMELAND SECURITY AFFAIRS. Hsaj.org. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from https://www.hsaj.org/articles/183
Intelligence, P. (2012). The Continually Expanding Definition of Terrorism. pi. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from https://publicintelligence.net/the-continually-expanding-definition-of-terrorism/
Jacobson, L. (2015). What's the definition of 'terrorism'?. PolitiFact. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/jul/09/whats-definition-terrorism/
Security, H. (2015). Preventing Terrorism Overview | Homeland Security. Dhs.gov. Retrieved 14 February 2015, from http://www.dhs.gov/topic/preventing-terrorism-overview