Corrections/Police Collaboration Among Intelligence Agencies and Law

Corrections/Police Collaboration Among Intelligence Agencies and Law Enforcement Agencies Collaboration occurs when two or more individuals, agencies, or other forms of organizations commence a mutually beneficial relationship toward a shared goal. Collaboration includes a shared determination or will to reach a goal or achieve an objective in many ways such as sharing knowledge/information, sharing resources, combining resources and staff in innovative manners, as well as by constructing and maintaining a consensus.

Construction and maintaining a consensus during collaborative efforts keeps every party involved on the same page; there is no one body that retains more knowledge than another or at least all parties involved have the same general sense of the situation or activity. Collaboration is an activity that requires effort in of itself. Collaboration by nature must be two-way or else it is not collaboration, but simply the execution of hierarchy. Law Enforcement is not a profession or discipline where collaboration is traditionally present.

In the 21st century in the United States, certainly in great part due to the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, there is a new tradition of law enforcement collaboration in effect: In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, most observers concluded that the U.S. Intelligence Community and law enforcement agencies need to share more information.

Most also concluded that operational strategies and tactics -- especially those focused on transnational issues such as terrorism, drugs, counterintelligence, and weapons of mass destruction -- needed to be better integrated. Understanding the need for change, Congress quickly passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001. It also enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA). Congress wanted to strengthen the nation's ability to protect itself from future attacks and to provide more effective tools to fight the war on terrorism.

These acts removed many of the barriers to cooperation between intelligence and law enforcement and mandated exchanging information related to international terrorist threats. (AFCEA 2007, 2-3) Law enforcement collaboration in the United States, for example extends from the local levels to the federal levels on a case-by-case situation.

Whereas in the past if a situation was serious enough to be handled by a federal agency, the local and even state law enforcement handling the case up until federal involvement would be phased out, side-tracked, or simply asked to handover their files and the case over to the federal agents. With new trends in law enforcement collaboration, approaches to crime and terrorism have expanded.

Agencies are mandated in some cases to show other branches of law enforcement a different kind of professional courtesy and respect with regard to cases where collaboration is ordered or suggested. The paper discusses the trends and effects of collaborations among law enforcement agencies to demonstrate the value of collaboration concern communication and problem-solving. Collaboration in general is useful for many reasons. Collaboration offers opportunities for cooperation and communication. Cooperation and communication because of collaboration leads to positive effects such as increases in efficiency, productivities, and elimination of redundancies.

When intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies collaborate on endeavors or cases the groups may find they are able to streamline a few to many of the organizational processes. Collaboration helps groups see how another group performs and approaches the same task. Collaborative groups can learn how to achieve their goals by better methods using strategies they may not have come up with within their individual organization. Collaboration tests communication skills. Communication skills are critical in most professions, but certainly in the professions of intelligence and law enforcement.

Quite frankly, poor, slow, or otherwise ineffective communication skills potentially costs lives in the field. Errors and problems in communication serve as unnecessary hindrances to operations costing time, resources, and money. Communication skills here refer to an array of forms of communication including correspondence through writing (physical and digital), presenting in large and small groups, and calls both telephone and video. Communication is a form of sharing that is inherent in collaborative efforts.

There are several key ways in which intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies demonstrate collaboration among each other. One demonstration of the collaborative spirit is the simply the acknowledgment that collaboration behooves and not impedes all parties involved as well as the American people, to whom all of these agencies and organizations are supposed to be in service. Just as the first step in substance abuse recovery programs, with reference to collaboration among intelligence and law enforcement, the first step is admitting there is a problem.

As aforementioned the tradition within intelligence and law enforcement is the opposite of collaboration; the tradition is to maintain secrecy and classified status to information gathered by a specific agency or organization. The American tradition is for intelligence agencies and law enforcement organizations to work together only when ordered or otherwise forced to do so, and even still, it is done grudgingly with hesitation. Such trends need to be dismantled and discontinued if true collaboration is to occur.

Furthermore, another way intelligence and law enforcement demonstrates collaborative efforts is the establishment of new agencies whose purpose to fight crime, combat terrorism, or even simply serve as a liaison or unifying agency that represents the efforts of and reports to many intelligence agencies & law enforcement organizations: A fusion center is an effective and efficient mechanism to exchange information and intelligence, maximize resources, streamline operations, and improve the ability to fight crime and terrorism by analyzing data from a variety.