ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: HS Today
11February2011 9:51amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Radical changes in methods, strategies and technologies of 
policing necessitate the forging of new relationships between police and communities, according to a new study by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), titled The Changing Environment for Policing, 1985-2008.
“Not only are changes occurring in the environment that may affect the structure of policing but police themselves are in the process of changing the way they work,” the report explains, noting that the factors driving this are the threat of terrorism, intelligence- led policing and DNA analysis.
While these developments have helped drive a significant decrease in violent crime over the past two decades, according to the report, each has also transfered initiative in directing operations to specialists who collect and analyze information and away from both general-duties police and the public.
“Ironically,” the report notes, “ these changes could undo the signature contribution of the 1980s — community policing. “
A focus on counterterrorism, for example, centralizes decision making, shifting it upward in police organizations and making it less transparent.
“In the aftermath of Sept. 11,” the report says, “a new emphasis has been placed on the development of covert intelligence gathering, penetration and disruption. In the United States, the development of covert counterterrorism capacity has been unequally distributed, being more pronounced in larger police forces. Where it occurs, important questions arise about legal accountability as well as operational payoff.” (read full report)
