Reference no: EM133260068

Read this scenario, then answer the following questions:

After many years of contracting with the county for law enforcement services, a medium-sized city, Utopia, has decided to form its own police department. City officials have conducted research, consulted with other cities and enlisted the help of federal law enforcement for guidance in the planning of the department. Everyone who participated in the planning agreed that a strong emphasis should be placed on homeland security and prevention of domestic terrorism. Following the principle that "hometown security is homeland security," officials approve funding for a "homeland security and counter-terrorism unit" as part of the police department. The new police chief appoints a captain to lead the unit.

A captain has been appointed to lead the new department's homeland security unit. The captain is a seasoned law enforcement officer, with 15 years as a deputy sheriff serving in Utopia. Seven of the 15 years were in leadership as a sergeant for both patrol and detective units. The captain also has a master's degree in Terrorism and Homeland Security - which he earned after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The city has given the captain initial funding for his unit and has approved two major areas where money can be spent first. One item is the "hard" component of the unit - the equipment and specific police training using that equipment. The other area is the "soft" component - this is the training of the officers, the building of relationships with federal agencies and other departments and educating the community. The captain must prioritize his goals and decide which area is most important initially. The captain decides to spend initial funds on the hard component - equipment and training. The captain wants to take advantage of actually having funding for these types of items because they are expensive and the money may not be available later.

The police captain and his staff spend the initial months and funding on purchasing equipment and organizing training for all of the officers within the department. The goal is to ensure that every officer is trained completely and consistently regarding events with terrorism potential such as: riots, bomb threats, and large scale event management. Follow up training will include detailed counterintelligence instruction and mock drills simulating a terrorist attack.

A male captain is the captain of Utopia's homeland security unit. The police department in a neighboring large city has asked the city of Utopia for assistance with a large scale event, a marathon road race, being held in their city. The FBI has intercepted some information on the internet about a possible terrorist attack at the marathon akin to the "Boston Marathon bombing. "Utopia would like to assist but leaves the decision to the homeland security unit as to whether it is prepared to offer equipment only or both equipment and personnel. The FBI has a Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in the neighboring city and will be the lead for event security. The captain decides to lend equipment only. The captain has not fully trained his officers, and he cannot afford to have a large amount of personnel out of the area during this early stage of the department's development.

Question 1: The police captain in the scenario above was required to make some tough decisions about resource allocation. If you were developing a counter-terrorism strategy, what factors would you prioritize? What steps would you take to implement your strategy? Cite specifics from the text above. Please start by initially answering the question with your own ideas, and thoughts. Provide in-text citations (put them in bold). Your response should be well detailed.

Question 2: Since September 11, 2001 and the perceived increase in the threat of domestic terrorism, patrol officers have become more vigilant. What types of activity do you think are of most concern, and why? Please start by initially answering the question with your own ideas, and thoughts. Provide in-text citations (put them in bold). Your response should be well detailed.