Agency/Organization in Which You Worked. Include Information

¶ … agency/organization in which you worked. Include information on the size of the organization (number of personnel, of what kinds) and the division of labor into units or departments. Obtain an organizational chart, or prepare one yourself, showing the formal structure of the organization.

The organization where I worked from April 24, 2012 to June 29, 2012 was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Created in 2003, it is the main investigative body of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigation. It is a federal law enforcement agency whose main responsibility includes executing the immigration and custom laws of the United States to protect the country and to ensure the public security.

The detailed chart of the structure of the organization is attached in the Appendix A. ICE has a divisional organizational structure. It is headed by the Director who is appointed by the President of U.S. And approved by the Senate. The Director directly reports to the Secretary of Homeland Security. There are six leadership offices that are located within the office of the Director. These offices are headed by Assistant Directors and include Office of Public Affairs, Office of Congressional Relations, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Office of Professional Responsibility, Office of Detention Policy and Planning and Office of State, Local and Tribal Coordination. ("ICE Leadership Offices")

ICE is further divided into three law enforcement divisions. Executive Associate Directors who supervise these divisions (headed by Assistant Directors) reports to the Deputy Director. The three main divisions are as following:

Enforcement and Removal Operations

Enforcement and Removal Operations oversees that the immigration laws are enforced in a productive manner. The main responsibility of the ERO is to identify the illegal individuals and remove them from the United States. Hence, this unit conducts the arrest and removal of criminals who present a threat to the security of the nation and cripples the integrity of the immigrations laws.

Homeland Security Investigations

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is in charge for investigating the national and international activities that result from illicit flow of people and goods into the U.S. "HSI investigates illegal crimes, abuse of human rights, human trafficking, weapons and drugs smuggling and cybercrimes." ("Homeland Security Investigations") HSI also conducts investigations to protect the important buildings that are sensitive to attacks by the enemies of the states. It comprises of more than 10,000 employees and is divided into many divisions such as Domestic Operations, Intelligence, International Affairs, Mission Support, National Security Investigation Division and National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. ("Homeland Security Investigations")

Management & Administration

Management & Administration is responsible for managing the budget, expenditures, recruitment, information technology systems, property and office equipments needs, finance, human resource management and workforce recruitment. Hence, it keeps track of the organization's performance measurements.

Therefore, the different divisions of ICE provide the services of investigation and security to the public and other federal agencies. ICE has an estimated 20,000 employees working in 400 offices in domestic and international offices. ("ICE Overview") Hence, the security mission of ICE has been carried out by a wide variety of law enforcement and intelligence professionals motivated by the spirit of contributing towards the safety and security of their country.

Identify the major goals of the organization. There are likely to be many. You may find it useful to break them down into primary and secondary goals. You may also find it useful to talk about formal and informal goals. If your agency provides services to a clientele, describe the clientele and describe the services that your agency provides for them.

The primary goal of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is to ensure the public safety and to promote the national security "through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade, and immigration." ("ICE Strategic Plan" 2) In June 2010, the agency laid out its strategic plan for the Fiscal Year 2010-2014. This plan comprehensively highlights how ICE will meet its responsibilities by fulfilling the following three primary homeland security missions:

Preventing terrorism and ensuring the security

Protecting the borders against illegal trade and immigrations

Protecting the borders through enforcement of the immigration laws

These three goals are the priorities in the agenda of ICE. Moreover, ICE has also secondary goals such as taking steps to improve the management structure of the agency so that it can work efficiently in fulfilling its objectives.

What sort of information does your agency gather regarding its operations and productivity? How does it measure progress toward goals? Do you think these measures are adequate (i.e., are they valid measures of progress toward the agency's goals)?

ICE promotes public safety and security of the country and does this by setting its priority the removal of criminals and those individuals who pose threat to the country. Hence, ICE identifies and apprehends terrorists and criminal organizations that exploit the borders of the nation. The information regarding the agency's operations and productivity are incorporated in the Annual Performance Report of the Homeland Security. The performance measures regarding the operations are reported on a quarterly basis to provide an indication of the progress in meeting the annual targets of the agency. ("Annual Performance Report" 6) At the end of each fiscal year, the program managers submit the year end results to the HIS along with their analyses and corrective action plan for those performance measures that did not meet the required targets. These results are evaluated on the basis of the feedback thought surveys and other data collection methodologies. These performance reviews are then included into the ICE's annual budget and financial reports. "These performances monitoring and reporting are work of the Department's Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution process." ("Annual Performance Report" 6)

The progress of ICE is also evaluated by the successful operations it carries out in accordance with its goals of promoting the national security. In Fiscal Year 2011, ICE "removed nearly 400,000 individuals, of whom 55% or over 216,000 were convicted criminal aliens." (Morton 1) Launched in 2003, ICE's "Operation Predator" focused on the criminals who sexually exploited the children through pornography and illegal trafficking. "Operation Predator" has resulted in "over 24,500 criminal cases initiated, over 7,600 criminal arrests, and over 5,900 criminal convictions" (Morton 1) since its launch. Similarly, in 2010, ICE launched its "Project Global Shield" which focused on combating the trafficking of chemicals used by the terrorists and criminals to manufacture improvised explosive devices (IED). "Project Global Shield has led to the seizure of 61.12 metric tons of IED precursor chemicals and 31 arrests." (Morton 1) Similarly, Sting operation in Chicago led to the arrests of "44 egregious immigration law violators." (Herald 1)

Such operations measure the success of the agency as most of the time the arrested individuals had criminal convictions ranging from drugs possessions to illegal possession of weapons. Some of the crimes also include arson or battery to an officer, armed robbery, drunken driving, and vehicle theft, damage to some property and mob action. Hence, ICE in this way fulfills the promise of making the communities safer by arresting and removing the criminals. Such efforts not only improves the public safety which is the top priority of ICE but also prevent the terrorists groups from acquiring the weapons of mass destruction which is harmful for the whole world.

Now describe the particular unit in which you worked. What was its size and composition? What is the function of your unit, and how does it contribute to the organization's operation and goals? How would you describe the "culture" of the unit within which you work? What values seem important to the people you work with and how do these values differ from those of other units within the agency, or the agency itself?

I worked in the ICE's Cyber Crimes Center which delivers the computer-based technical services to ICE to conduct the national and the international investigations of the cross border crime. Cyber Crimes Section is divided into four sections i.e. The Cyber Crimes Section (CCS), the Child Exploitation Section (CES), the Computer Forensic Section (DFS) and the Cyber Administrative Section (CAS). Cyber Crime Center is involved in combating the internet-related crimes. The center comprises of intelligence agents, research specialists and special agents. There are various program managers assigned to each section. These program managers provide guidance and training to the field agents and are responsible for backing the ICE cyber investigations. Within Cyber Section, I worked in the Cyber Crimes Section and the Child Exploitation Section. The functions of the two sections are as following:

Cyber Crimes Section

Cyber Crimes Section is responsible for managing the cyber component of the immigration and customs investigations. It supervises the development and coordination of the investigations involving immigration and customs violations where internet is utilized to aid the criminal activities. The investigative responsibilities of CCS include:

Money laundering

Illegal export of goods

Drug trafficking

Illegal arms trafficking

Identify and benefit document fraud

Human smuggling

Financial Fraud

Commercial Fraud

Illegal trade of art, intellectual or cultural property

Hence, Cyber Crimes Section develops laws and regulations that strengthen the U.S. Cyber Security and carries out covert investigations through undercover law enforcement methodologies.

Child Exploitation Section

Child Exploitation Section is responsible for fighting the sexual exploitation of children and the production and distribution of child pornography. CES's sophisticated investigative techniques target the internet violators. CES utilizes the latest technology to gather the evidence and track the activities of individuals and organized groups who are involved in exploiting the children through emails, chat rooms, websites and file-sharing applications. Hence, CES coordinates with the law enforcement agencies in major investigations and assists the field offices in identifying the violators. Major initiatives of the Child Exploitation Section are:

Operation Predator for targeting the criminals involved in child pornography and child sex tourism

The National Child Victim Identification System for assisting the law enforcement agencies in identifying the victims of sexual exploitation

The Virtual Global Taskforce which is an alliance of international law enforcement agencies to fight the online child exploitation ("Cyber Crimes Center")

In addition, ICE has also partnered with foreign law enforcement agencies and NGO's to fight the violators at the global level.

The functions of these two sections contributes towards fulfilling the main objective of U.S. Immigration and Enforcement i.e. protection of the national security especially combating the criminal activities that are carried out through the use of internet. ICE follows the culture of professionalism as every person working in the agency adheres to the rules governing his job. The organization itself is very quick to adopt the innovative changes that can help in fulfilling its goal. The culture of ICE can also be considered a strong culture where the employees also respond to the stimulus because of their adherence to the organizational values. The individuals working in this organization seem to follow the values of integrity, respect, teamwork and dedication to their job. These values are in adherence to the values of the organization as a whole which contributes to the successful running of an organization. These values highly motivate the employees and respect each individual's contribution to the organization.

What was your role within the unit? If you received any training for your role, describe it. Then describe your responsibilities. Did they change during your co-op? With whom did you interact (both within and outside the organization), and how would you describe your interactions with them?

I was given the task of finding a person through the open sources like google.com and any other sites on the internet that are accessible with public information. There wasn't any significant training required for this job. I was just being explained everything in detail and then I was assigned to work. My main responsibility involved tracking a certain person with the help of the information that was given to me. My responsibilities remained same throughout most of the co-op. Since, it was the back office job I had most of the interaction with the employees working within the organization. But I also interacted with other sections within the ICE and also with other federal agencies such as Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Drug Enforcement Administration. I was very pleased by their work ethics and professional norms and my interaction with them was a learning experience for me as it exposed me to their extensive experience and professional guidance.

At the close of this paper, write a final section in which you draw some conclusions about your overall experience in this co-op. What went well? What went not so well (Was anything disappointing)? What was the most important thing that you learned about policing/the practice of law/security/probation/courts/investigation/human services? (Pick the category that applies. If none of these applies, substitute an appropriate one.) What was the most important thing that you learned about yourself during this co-op? Discuss whether and how this co-op experience contributed to your personal growth.

My overall experience in this co-op was a wide learning process for me. It gave me a chance to experience the real-world and the professional on-the-job working experience in the field of criminal justice. Overall, all the things went well for me but generally the transition from a student mentality to an employee mentality was not a smooth ride. Initially, I had to ask my supervisor again and again about the things which I didn't understand but then eventually I gained the confidence and started taking my own decisions. Through this experience, I have learned about my personal strengths as well as areas of weaknesses where I need to improve myself. I also learned about myself that I have more patience than I thought I would have as the government system is really slow and working through that system requires a lot of patience. I feel interacting with the co-workers and learning through their job functions and experiences benefits the pace of work. One important lesson I have learned is that one can save his valuable time by discovering beforehand whom to ask the right questions. Moreover, there was one time when I felt disappointed with the agency. The agency has a travel voucher program which gives the travelling passes. Although I applied for vouchers in April when I started my co-op, I didn't receive them due to the slow working of the government.

In my opinion, there was hardly any dull moment for me because I found myself working along with the investigative agents not as a student but as a part of the team. I was continuously motivated during my co-op and I always felt excited to go to work. The most important thing that I discovered about the investigation was that it requires extremely good interpersonal, people and legal skills. The job is very stressful at times and one needs a lot of patience to cope up with the slow and difficult situations.

My co-op experience contributed a great deal to my personal growth. This experience allowed me to improve my interpersonal skills and I learned how to work in the teams. The level of seriousness and the professionalism shown by the employees demonstrated to me how important the work ethics are. Moreover, after my co-op experience I experienced a personal change and adopted a mature and responsible approach towards career development as there was clarification of my career goals. (Wilson 56) Hence, the feedback through performance assessment and exposure to the practicing role models helped a lot in my self-development.

Journal Assignment 2:

Begin by identifying what you believe to be the three most important/significant tasks, assignments or projects on which you worked during your co-op.

Describe the task/assignment/project in detail.

Describe the knowledge or skills that you employed and explain how you executed the task. (If it was a group task or project, explain who was involved and how you worked together.)

Describe any products or outcomes of the task/assignment/project, and any feedback that you may have received on your performance. Finally, explain in what ways this task/assignment/project was important or significant for you

During my co-op, I was given the task of finding people through the open sources such as Google. For e.g. I was only given a city name, that the person may own four Mercedes and an online user name. With the help of this information, I was able to find the address of this person along with his place of work and the model of his Mercedes. As a criminal investigator, I was responsible for conducting investigations about individuals, businesses, criminal organizations and terrorist groups that seem suspicious and pose a threat to public safety and national security. The agency also has a Child Exploitation Tracking System (ICE-CETS) which is "a centralized information repository that assists law enforcement in conducting child exploitation investigations." ("Privacy Impact Assessment ICE-CETS" 2) This system is managed by the Cyber Crimes Section where I worked during my co-op. The database has investigative information related to the internet related child exploitation crimes and refers them to ICE agents for investigation. Hence, it is a tool that "facilitates the efficient use of investigative resources by ensuring related tips are identified and assigned for proper follow up." ("Privacy Impact Assessment ICE-CETS" 2) I was also responsible for writing the reports, analyses and the statistical summaries. Hence, I was engaged in planning and making analytical assignments and research reports in support of investigations on matters involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The majority of the analytical work produced will be utilized by the ICE in further development of the case which will be eventually presented to the U.S. Attorney's Office and in the trial proceedings. Hence, I was responsible for somehow providing the assistance to the government intelligence operations for the implementation of a criminal analysis program.

Similarly, my job also included providing the technical, administrative and clerical support to the investigation programs. It involved gathering of the data regarding the individual case assignments. I also assisted in carrying out the research of the cases and in assembling, tabulating and analyzing the information for agent's use in investigations as well as evidence in other various cases.

Conducting criminal and civil investigations need an expert level of planning, conflict-management and organizational skills. Moreover, in such tasks coordination between the different sections of an agency is also necessary. This job tested my analytical skills a lot as in order to investigate about a person or gather evidence; one had to be quick in his judgment and decision making and evaluate the cost and benefit of a certain action to select the most appropriate one. Moreover, one has to be an active listener as well. One has to give full attention to what people are saying. One should analyze the situation and ask questions when appropriate. Most importantly, one should also be clearly articulate his ideas and opinions and should completely absorb the points being made.

I had to employ my variety of skills for effective deliverance of the tasks. Firstly, I had to employ my legal skills as to work in one of these jobs; one must have an experience in the legal field and advanced education in the immigration law of the country. Secondly, I exercised my administrative skills that included ability to perform the day-to-day office duties, keeping the records, making relevant phone calls and delivering and collecting the paperwork. Hence, strong administrative skills were needed for the tasks. Thirdly, I had to utilize my technical skills especially when searching for an individual online. Moreover, it requires a vast technological knowledge to maintain a huge amount of databases that the agency uses to keep the track of the immigrants and to coordinate with other governmental agencies. Hence, the acquisition of information technology knowledge is extremely required for working in the immigration agency.

The findings of my investigations were finally sent to the ICE field office of a certain area which falls under its responsibility. Then the relevant field office further investigated the individual or an organization and then took the action. The final feedback on the outcomes of my findings has yet to be given. This is one of the examples of the slow working pace of the government departments. So, during my co-op I have learned to be patient and am waiting for the feedback.

These tasks were significant for me in a variety of ways. I had the feeling of doing very important work in service to the people and my nation. It was an interesting and challenging work with a flexible schedule. U.S. Customs and Enforcement agency gives good benefit to its employees and there is an incentive of reward for good job performance. These tasks will offer me career advancement opportunities if I choose to enter the federal government or work as a criminal investigator in the ICE. In this way, this could be a great start for my career in federal law enforcement agencies. There was also a diversity of work with variety of investigations so there was some level of freedom and an opportunity to shape an agency. The people working in the agency are extremely dedicated so I got a chance to learn a lot from them especially it polished my managerial skills a lot. Hence, these tasks gave me a sense of working for the benefit of my country and helping others.

Journal Assignment 3

Section 1: Begin by thinking about the courses that you have taken at Northeastern, and identify the one or two in which you learned things that were most relevant to what you observed or experienced during this co-op.

In the first section of the paper, identify the course(s) and be specific about how concepts, theories or ideas from the course(s) related to your co-op. Discuss two or three connections that you have been able to make between this prior coursework and things you observed or experienced on co-op.

Criminal Justice Research Methods

The course "Criminal Justice Research Methods" was most related to my co-op. This course introduced me to the basic concepts that are involved in conducting research in the domains of criminal justice system. The lectures, group discussion and the readings that I have undergone in this course have familiarized me with the scientific methods that are necessary for the systematic analysis of the crime trends. In this way, this course made me capable of conducting investigation, developing an idea, cultivating a research design and administering its implementation.

The two types of methodology that I learned in this course helped me a lot in conducting research into cases. The first was quantitative methodology that helped me dealing with the statistics, reports, and figures and spread sheets. The second was qualitative research methodology that helped in understanding why crimes are committed through interviews, research and profiling. Hence, while this course on criminal justice research methods introduced me to the theory and philosophy of social science inquiry with the focus on criminal justice, my co-op introduced me to the application of this inquiry in real life scenario. This course was really helpful to me as it not only widened my understanding of the ethical components related to research but also introduced me to the different research methodologies such as surveys and field research.

During this course, we also studied different hypothetical situations and were equipped with knowledge as how to address the problem in the given scenario. This also helped a lot in analyzing the tools that are actually needed to conduct the research. Hence, this demonstrated that how research is relevant to the field of criminal investigation.

Crime Prevention

Another course which was relevant to my co-op was on Crime Prevention. This gave me an overview about how to set up the crime prevention programs and how to maintain an effective program. Basically, this course focused on constructing the framework for thinking about the prevention of the crime at the individual, family and the local level. It also covered the challenges faced in implementing the crime prevention programs for the communities in a way that empowers the local residents and influences other protective factors. Moreover, I was able to understand the meaning of words "risk," "security" and "safety" more comprehensively. (Hughes, McLaughlin and Muncie 21)

The case studies studied during this course helped in giving an overview of the issues related to crime prevention both from criminology and criminal justice point-of-view. The topics such as situational crime prevention that is directed at reducing the opportunities for criminals to stop committing the crime helped in analyzing the ways in which the criminal organizations and illegal immigrants can be stopped before they pose any threat to the national security. My experience in co-op helped me in understanding the strong relationship between ideology, theory and practice. The analytic approach and the practical application of the situational and community crime prevention that I gained during this course helped me in analyzing discretely the crime situations, devising strategies for intervention and evaluating the crime preventive measures.