Adjusting to Terrorism 1

RUNNING HEAD: Adjusting to Terrorism

Steven Griffiths
CJA354
University of Phoenix
Steven Gillikin
7/8/2013



Since the events of September 11, 2001 state and local law enforcement agencies have struggled
to find a way to be able to train their officers in counter terrorism tactics. For most police departments,
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their training is nothing more than a memo put out by the Chief of Police on how you should react to any
such situation. However, the truth of the matter is that just reacting is not enough, one must be
proactive in training, and developing a training plan to deal with a terrorist situation. The introduction of
Asymmetric warfare to a department can have its advantages, in short, Asymmetric warfare is the
exploiting the weaknesses of the enemy to gain a foot hold in a particular position. Currently at the Nez
Perce County Sheriffs Office, the current policy to deal with a terrorist event is to observe, and report to
appropriate authorities. While this observe and report is helpful, it is by no means a solution to a serious
problem.
This first change has to be made at the administration level, each person in a position of
command needs to be aware that a terrorist event can happen at any given time, and that proper response
is going to be the difference between 5 lives lost, and 50 lives lost. Training police officers to be on the
lookout for suspicious signs, and people acting weird or out of the ordinary should be a priority. If you
see someone youve never seen before pacing from point A to point B several times, you should go up to
the person and ask the simplest of questions what are you doing out here? then observe how the
individual responds to the question, are they nervous? do they give an off the wall answer, or do they
pretend that they dont even see you and try and walk away. To some a person pacing wont seem like
much, but to someone trained to look for the obscure they could see someone pace counting to plant an
explosive device, and plan a route of escape. According to the Washington Post 2005: The police
department's special operations squads include experts who have undergone regular and intensive training
on how to recognize and respond to terrorist attacks. But officials know that patrol officers are most likely
to be the first to respond to a strike, and they are getting additional training. The drills are meant to
evaluate officers and teach them how to prevent casualties, contain a crisis and preserve evidence in
realistic settings, police officials said.
Once administrators have been trained and know what they have to do, developing specific
training criteria for the rest of the department will be the next step. The training should contain specific
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weapons to use for different situations, if it is a bombing getting explosive ordinance disposal on the
scene to clear it first so medical can be second to tend to the injured. Train officers to be more involved in
the community and see if you can get information from them on anything strange happening, such as a
neighbor purchasing lots of guns and ammunition, or someone buying a lot of ammonium nitrate
fertilizer. In the end the difference between a successful response and a failed response is going to be how
well you have been trained, and how serious you take the training.
Wilber, D.Q. (2005). Anti-Terrorism Training Expands For D.C. Police. Retrieved from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49765-2005Apr13.html