May 2005
Volume 74 Number 5
United States Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, DC 20535-0001
Robert S. Mueller III
Director
Contributors’ opinions and statements should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI for any policy, program, or service. The attorney general has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law. Use of funds for printing this periodical has been approved by the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (ISSN-0014-5688) is published monthly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20535-0001. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Madison Building, Room 201, Quantico, VA 22135.
Editor John E. Ott
Associate Editors
Cynthia L. Lewis
David W. MacWha
Bunny S. Morris
Art Director
Denise Bennett Smith
Assistant Art Director
Stephanie L. Lowe
This publication is produced by members of the Law Enforcement Communication Unit, Training and Development Division.
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Cover Photos © Kurt Crawford
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The FBI National Academy
By Troy Lane
Innovations in their profession require law enforcement officials to seek opportunities for advanced training.
Coordinated Terrorist Attacks
By Brian K. Houghton and Jonathan M. Schachter
For emergency responders, coordinated attacks bring not only greater danger to the public they serve but also the potential that responders themselves may be targeted.
Physical Fitness
By Daniel E. Shell
By addressing several important issues,department leaders can properly plan an effective physical fitness program for their officers.
Focus on Community Policing
Community Partnerships
Bulletin Reports
School Safety
Drugs
Victims
Training
Police Practice
Productivity Analysis for Basic Police Patrol Activities
ViCAP
Alert Unidentified Homicide Victim
Book Review
Common Sense
Police Supervision
By TROY LANE
© Kurt Crawford
Why would experienced, high-ranking law enforcement officers leave their jobs, families, and the communities they serve to spend 10 weeks in a remote, Spartan environment that offers mental, emotional, and physical challenges that many may not have faced in some time? What benefits would such an experience hold for command-level personnel who have endured the rigors and inherent dangers of their profession? What can they bring back to their agencies that can enhance the service they provide to their communities? Do the advantages of such continuing education outweigh the potential difficulties associated with leaders absent from their posts for nearly 3 months?
The need to remain abreast of innovations in their profession prompts executives to seek opportunities for advanced training. Many effective continuing education programs exist for members of the law enforcement community. The FBI has offered one for the past 70 years, which began small but developed into a highly regarded management training tool.
Director J. Edgar Hoover started the FBI National Academy to increase the professionalism and training of local law enforcement officers nationwide in response to growing problems faced throughout the country. Founded on July 29, 1935, with 23 students in attendance, the National Academy (NA) currently provides a wide range of leadership and specialized training, as well as an opportunity for professionals to discuss ideas, techniques, and experiences. Officers attending the NA share the facilities of the FBI Academy with FBI agent trainees, in-service students, and academy faculty and staff.1 In addition, the DEA houses its academy nearby and uses many of the same amenities. As with other institutions of higher learning, the NA lodges students in dormitory rooms and provides them with a wide array of services, including a dining hall, library, pool, television rooms, computer labs, and shopping areas.
How do law enforcement officers get selected to attend the NA? First, they must be—
within a certain height-weight standard;
mentally and physically capable of performance;
at least the rank of lieutenant (or equivalent); and
willing to remain in the field of law enforcement for at least 3 additional years.
For heads of agencies, their governing bodies or officials must nominate them. A city council member, mayor, or city manager would select a chief of police, whereas a county commissioner or similarly appointed official would choose a sheriff.
Next, agencies obtain official applications from their local FBI offices. Nominees must complete the extensive forms and have them signed by their chief executives. Then, they return them to the FBI, which checks the applications for completeness and places the candidates’ names on a waiting list.
When openings occur, the FBI informs applicants of their selection to attend the academy, pending results of a thorough background investigation and physical examination to determine their ability to perform strenuous physical activity. Upon completion of these two phases, the NA schedules the candidates for an upcoming session. The entire process can take as much as a year to complete.
Captain Lane serves with the Kansas State
University Police Department in Manhattan.
Once selected to attend the NA, applicants receive a lengthy list of available classes. With the exception of physical training, the University of Virginia accredits all courses and awards college credit to students who successfully complete them. For certain classes, the university bestows graduate level credit for officers with bachelor’s degrees.
Students must attend one class in legal matters (except foreign students), behavioral science, law enforcement communication, leadership, forensic science, and physical training (a noncredit course) and can earn up to 19 credit hours. While numerous courses are available in each of these subjects (except physical training), students may select only one class per area. The program also offers other noncredit courses. In addition, the NA hosts a weekly Enrichment Night wherein a variety of speakers give presentations on various law enforcement-related topics, such as risk management, cults, and terrorism.
Monday through Friday, students attend classes, set in 2-hour blocks. They must wear mandatory dress uniforms, consisting of color-coordinated shirts and khaki pants, during business hours on weekdays, even when not in class. FBI agent trainees wear similar uniforms.
In addition to physical training classes, students are encouraged to participate in the FBI Fitness Challenge, a set of increasingly difficult and demanding physical endurance events. Weekly sessions, named after characters or objects in The Wizard of Oz, start with a 1.8mile run called Not in Kansas Anymore and end with the Yellow Brick Road, a 6.1-mile run and obstacle course. All students who complete the Fitness Challenge receive a yellow brick, which some alumni list as a valued memento.
Besides providing a variety of courses, the NA also broadens the experience with several group outings, such as visits to national landmarks in Washington D.C., and nearby police departments. The International Night allows foreign attendees to showcase their homelands. Often, these students dress in traditional attire, prepare native food and drink, and invite foreign delegates currently in the United States to help educate their classmates about their countries.
Students receive all of this training at no cost to their agencies. The sponsoring department only has to continue paying the salary of the officer attending. The NA provides the funds for housing, dining, and travel. Students or their sponsoring agencies only have to cover personal expenses and the price of uniforms.
All NA graduates can join the FBI National Academy Associates, a professional, worldwide organization. These alumni continue to provide localized training and, once a year, host a national conference. Members exert considerable professional influence as leaders in organizations, such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriff’s Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Officers, the International Association of Women in Policing, and the National Association of State Directors of Law Enforcement. One of every five active-duty graduates now heads a law enforcement agency, and most alumni participate in the training-oriented organization.
What are the personal and professional benefits of attending the NA? While most would agree with the immediate answer of improving law enforcement standards, knowledge, and cooperation throughout the world, the author decided to ask his fellow graduates what they specifically considered as the major personal and departmental benefits of participating in the program.
For him, networking represented the greatest personal benefit. After all, as public servants, officers may strive to perform their duties better or provide superior service, but they do not compete for a market of customers. Therefore, they share their ideas freely and look to others for new ones.
The author received a diverse range of responses to the question of personal benefits of attending the NA. However, networking—the ability to reach out and contact officers from different departments throughout the world—ranked the highest. Time away from homes, families, and the rigors of work and daily life also represented important parts of the experiences of many graduates. They formed friendships, found new ideas for work, changed their lifestyles and attitudes, advanced their careers, and improved their academic standings. Many, subjected to diverse cultures different from their own, came away with a better understanding of the challenges facing all members of the law enforcement profession, regardless of their jurisdictions.
Aligning themselves with other professionals throughout the world who share the same profession proved an immense benefit. As one graduate explained, “From an administrative perspective, the value in sending other command officers to the academy is to broaden their understanding of law enforcement from a national point of view to make them realize that most of the problems they face have been faced by others who probably came up with some sort of good way to address it.” For example, if a department is considering implementing a new procedure or looking for equipment to help in records management, no doubt one of the many active or retired NA alumni has “been there, done that.” If officers need directions to a state laboratory or training location, no doubt nearby graduates can help. Often, they open their own homes to others based simply on the fact that the requestor is a fellow graduate. As an alumnus said, “There is an unwritten trust between National Academy brethren that can’t be matched by any other organization.” Another summed up his experience as “breakfast with an officer from China, lunch with an officer from Korea, and dinner with an officer from England—in other words, the extension of contacts all over the world.”
This category revealed the depth that many graduates went to in explaining their feelings about the NA experience and how it enriched their lives. One said, “The opportunity to take 3 months, get away from everything, and be able to think and self-reflect was key.” He committed himself to several goals while away, such as getting into a physical fitness routine and reflecting on his family and work. He felt that the time away made him a better administrator, a better person, and a better husband and father. Another alumnus stated, “My family life has become better on all different levels. I learned to communicate with my wife, she learned how to become more independent, and my kids learned to appreciate their father a little more.”
One graduate indicated that after attending the NA, his personal goal of completing college became key to him. He felt that it was this experience that enabled him not only to finish his bachelor’s degree but to obtain his master’s and doctorate as well. He now teaches as a visiting assistant professor in addition to his duties as an assistant chief of police.
While most alumni did not list this as one of the more rewarding benefits from attending, they did acknowledge that graduating from the NA helps a law enforcement officer’s career. One said, “Most city managers will not even consider chief candidates unless they have been to the National Academy.” While this statement would not apply in all cases, a quick look at police executive employment Web sites or advertisements in professional journals will show the importance of obtaining advanced training for law enforcement managers.
As with the personal benefits, the author found networking the most substantial benefit to the agency as well. Many of the NA alumni reported that when their departments needed assistance from an outside agency, a call to a fellow graduate in that or a nearby department made the difference. Knowing officers from different countries or agencies or those with specific abilities often proved helpful as well.
Many NA graduates commented on the benefits their agencies received from the training they brought back. One said, “I know that my staff will have the benefit of police management education that is unequaled and doesn’t cost the city much money.” Another remarked, “Staff officers return with a new enthusiasm for their career, are dedicated to a life of physical fitness, and have many new tools in their tool boxes.” He added that graduates become role models for younger employees and more aware of the “big picture” of law enforcement worldwide. Focus on Training “It is probably the only time that law enforcement agencies can send managers away for training and let them have time to focus solely on training,” said one graduate. This statement revealed a unique aspect of the program, which stresses to sponsoring agencies that attending officers must remain free of responsibilities while at the academy so they can immerse themselves in their studies. Even their families know and respect this request. For many alumni, the NA constituted the one time in their professional lives when they truly left the work behind and concentrated on learning.
The FBI National Academy offers advanced training in senior law enforcement management. Departments send their officers for a variety of reasons. Perhaps, they seek an outlet for networking with other agencies. Maybe, they want to reward officers for years of excellent service. Or, possibly, their personnel need enhanced training provided only by the academy that they could bring back and share with others.
Officers go to the academy with their own expectations of what it will do for them. Maybe, they hope to become better-equipped managers and learn diverse solutions to common problems. Or, perhaps, they want to enhance their résumés.
No matter the reasons, both the departments and the officers will reap benefits that may occur immediately or not come to fruition until years later. By continuing to enhance their knowledge, skills, and abilities, law enforcement officers and their agencies can improve service to their communities and remain a bulwark against the increasing threat to the safety and security of this country.
1 For additional information on the FBI Academy, see Julie R. Linkins, “FBI Academy: 25 Years of Law Enforcement Leadership,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 1997, 1-12.
2 For additional information on the FBI Fitness Challenge, see Patti Ebling, “Physical Fitness in Law Enforcement: Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, October 2002, 1-5.
3 The author, a graduate of the 212th Session of the FBI National Academy, queried his fellow NA graduates via e-mail and received numerous responses. He included some in this article to illustrate how the majority of respondents answered his questions about the benefits of attending the NA.
The author gratefully acknowledges the help that his fellow graduates of the FBI National Academy gave him in the preparation of this article. In particular, he thanks Lance Burris, Jeffery Butters, Don Raley, Dick Schurman, John Summers, Ronald Thrasher, and Bill Wilmot.
During the past decade, crime has decreased in urban areas, but, subsequently, some rural communities have experienced an increase because offenders have been forced away from 1large cities. This trend threatens the quality of life in many suburban and rural areas. Therefore, a growing number of townships are taking a proactive posture against this movement by focusing on community-based crime prevention programs, which unite communities in the fight to thwart the spread of crime. The Challenge McDonough County, Illinois, is in the western part of the state with a population of approximately 40,000 and includes Macomb, a university town of 20,000 residents plus 12,000 college students.
McDonough County, Illinois, is in the western part of the state with a population of approximately 40,000 and includes Macomb, a university town of 20,000 residents plus 12,000 college students. Although Macomb offers a family friendly atmosphere with a low crime rate, harbingers of gang and drug activities surfaced, perhaps from an influx of individuals seeking a haven from the increased law enforcement efforts in larger cities. Drug arrests began to occur and evidence of graffiti appeared. Therefore, citizens of Macomb decided to handle these problems by drawing from their community-based, crime prevention program experiences. Macomb’s results may serve as a model for other cities confronting similar trends.
Many of today’s crime prevention approaches are based on an experiment conducted in a New Jersey community years ago, which spotlighted the importance of maintaining neighborhoods to keep 2communities relatively crime free. The broken windows theory holds that such issues as street maintenance and lighting, limits on the number of families living in a single dwelling, and control of absentee landlord rentals reduce crime. Additionally, attention to minor infractions that erode well-kept, safe environments, such as loud music, abandoned cars, and graffiti, can prevent the spread of gang violence, drug abuse, and other criminal conduct. Macomb applied the broken windows concept in a rural environment by forming community partnerships that result in a continuous focus on quality-of-life issues.
In early 1994, Macomb formed a Crime and Quality of Life Advisory Committee, changing the name in 1996 to Community Quality of Life Committee and expanding the purview to include all of McDonough County. The committee seeks “to support efforts that contribute to the excellence of our community and to monitor and give advice regarding maintaining and enhancing community quality of life, including the prevention and reduction of crimes that adversely impact our 3 neighborhoods.”
The committee recruited concerned citizens who have a responsibility for quality of life and criminal justice academicians from the local university, as well as other community leaders. Several committee members, such as the fire chief, sheriff, mayor, school superintendent, executive director of the housing authority, and the local state senator, were selected because their positions have the responsibility and authority to provide a prospering neighborhood.
The major responsibility of the advisory committee involves developing a method for measuring the quality of life in the community, setting a baseline, and monitoring its status. To complete this task, a criminal justice research specialist (a member of the committee) and graduate assistants from the local university’s department of law enforcement and justice administration analyzed 26 years of crime trends in Macomb and McDonough County, comparing them with eight contiguous counties and totals for the state of Illinois. They selected “community wellness” indicators (e.g., poverty and welfare rates, per capita income, single parent families, births by mothers under 18 years of age, truancy violations, and emergency room admissions) from their research.
The committee meets at least four times a year, and members review these indicators. Then, they publish a community “report card” or “wellness report.” Any indication that the community is adversely affected requires recommendations for combating the negative factors before they become substantial problems.
As a result of the crime trend analysis, committee members noted early signs of substance abuse and gang involvement in the crime trends. As a result, the committee formed a youth task force that meets monthly. The task force determines the extent of the problem, confirms what is being done about the issue, recognizes any unnecessary duplication of services, decides the need for additional action and what it should be, and recommends steps that advisory committee members should take.
The school superintendent and a local religious leader oversee the youth task force. Several of the advisory committee members, such as the police chief and director of the housing authority, serve on the task force as well. Additionally, persons who deal daily with youth problems comprise part of the task force, along with an individual from the university who is an expert in substance abuse problems.
Task force members have made several recommendations, such as school dress codes, truancy enforcement, a youth teen center, and ordinances to restrict alcohol and tobacco use by minors to combat the growing crime trend. At the youth center, teens socialize in a nonalcoholic environment and participate in an annual film festival. Also, the task force uses the local cable television channel and area newspapers to alert parents about gangs and substance abuse among teens.
Task force members collected information about nearly 100 community activities available to youths and conveyed it to parents and teens through the local media and a Web site. They also made the information available to practitioners who deal with young people in trouble. Members encouraged police officers to divert underage offenders to these community activities, rather than counseling and releasing them.
Additionally, when rental property inhabited by students around the local university began to deteriorate, the task force recommended an adopt-a-street program, which made various university student organizations responsible for preserving quality of life in their own neighborhoods. This program, implemented throughout the police department, has proven successful.
The advisory committee recommended spotlighting people who and activities that enhance well-maintained communities. This evolved into a yearly event held each September and includes exhibits and demonstrations by most county public safety agencies. Local schools bring students to the event where thousands of community members meet police, fire, emergency, and rescue officers. Community members have the opportunity to thank these public employees and have their pictures taken with them, pet the police dogs, climb the fire equipment, sound the police siren, and perform other such activities. The celebration includes a supplement in the local newspaper that commends and provides photographs of members of the county public safety agencies. The committee gives awards to individual agencies, as well as to citizens who contribute to a safe community. This yearly event fosters communication and trust between the public safety agencies and the community and promotes awareness of the relationship between public safety and community quality of life. During the past 10 years, nearly 100 citizens and organizations have been honored for their contributions to local quality of life.
As crime, particularly drug use and gang violence, seeps into smaller communities, some townships are implementing procedures to deter its spreading. The crime prevention and quality-of-life effort in McDonough County, Illinois, seeks to prevent this ever-increasing threat. An advisory committee oversees the program and promotes cooperation and coordination among the various entities that have a responsibility for ensuring a flourishing community.
The committee established and continually monitors community wellness indicators. When these indicators disclose the beginning signs of activities that adversely will impact quality of life, committee members create task forces to recommend remedies. Then, these solutions are implemented through the committee and aim to prevent community infections before they become serious.
When this project began in the early 1990s, crime had begun its downward trend across the country. However, in Macomb, Illinois, as in many smaller communities, crime was on the rise. After the implementation of this program, crime has decreased and quality of life has become a hallmark of the community.
Anyone involved in resolving social problems realizes that no perfect solutions exist. However, insightful, preventative activities can inhibit and even preclude many adverse conditions that result in the deterioration of community quality of life and the increase of crime. The approach taken by McDonough County may serve as a useful model to other localities working to prevent crime and preserve a nurturing community.
1 Dr. Michael Hazlett, Western Illinois University, Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration, “Community Quality of Life 1993-1994,” Community Wellness Factor Report.
2 For more information on this topic, see Frank Perry, “Repairing Broken Windows: Preventing Corruption Within Our Ranks,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, February 2001, 23-26; and J.Q. Wilson and G. Kelling, “The Police and Neighborhood Safety: Broken Windows,” The Atlantic Monthly, March 1982, 29-38.
3 The mission statement is restated in the minutes of the first Crime and Quality of Life Advisory Committee (CQLAC) meeting each year. These minutes are kept by the current CQLAC chair, Mr. Bill Jacob, Executive Director, McDonough County Housing Authority, 322 West Piper Street, Macomb, Illinois 61455.
4 U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, 1992 (Washington, DC, 1993).
Dr. Cronkhite, a former police practitioner, is a law enforcement and justice administration professor, commentator, and consultant at Western Illinois University in Macomb.
The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin staff invites you to communicate with us via e-mail. Our Internet address is leb@fbiacademy.edu. We would like to know your thoughts on contemporary law enforcement issues. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions about the magazine. Please include your name, title, and agency on all e-mail messages. Also, the Bulletin is available for viewing or downloading on a number of computer services, as well as the FBI’s home page. The home page address is http://www.fbi.gov.
With elections only a few days away, the terrorism threat level is at high, and law enforcement personnel are on the lookout for suspicious behavior that may indicate an imminent terrorist attack. As the morning commute gets underway, three bombs explode on a commuter train at a downtown station, killing and injuring those in the path of the blast wave and shrapnel. Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel respond, but, as they mobilize, four more bombs explode in another train arriving at the same station, instantly doubling the number of people dead and wounded. Soon, another bomb goes off inside a train a few miles away, requiring public safety personnel and resources there as well. The nightmare reaches its peak 5 minutes later as two more bombs blow apart a commuter train at still another downtown location, killing and injuring even more people. The emergency response community now faces mass fatalities and seemingly countless injuries at three separate sites. Though this scenario sounds like the subject of novels and Hollywood thrillers, it actually took place on March 11, 2004, in Madrid, 1Spain. This type of incident, like many similar ones in recent years, has important implications for the ways in which local responders prepare for terrorist attacks of all kinds.
Coordinated terrorist assaults include elements that occur simultaneously or nearly so and are conducted by a single terrorist organization or jointly by sympathetic groups. Historically, however, the vast majority of hazardous device-based terrorist attacks have not fit this description, but have been “simple” in design, featuring only one component, such as a single, placed bomb or a suicide bomber. Nevertheless, in recent years, the number of coordinated assaults has increased, especially among the terrorist groups of greatest concern to the United States. Moreover, since 1983, half of the 14 terrorist incidents with 100 or more fatalities were coordinated 2 ones.
A mix of interrelated reasons makes coordinated attacks appealing to terrorist groups. Such incidents have the potential to cause greater damage than simple operations in terms of the lives, property, and geographic areas affected, as well as the psychological impact. The increased destruction lends credibility to the terrorist organization as it reflects an ability to plan and execute sophisticated operations, implies a multiplicity of personnel and supporters, and creates the impression that the group can cover many areas at the same time. This combination of perceived and actual destructive power and resultant credibility makes such attacks and the organizations that perpetrate them more “newsworthy,” allowing such groups to gain public attention, one of the main goals of all terrorist campaigns.
Overall, coordinated terrorist incidents fall into three main categories: 1) parallel device attacks, where participants use more than one device simultaneously or almost simultaneously in the same location; 2) secondary attacks, where the initial assault is followed by one or more additional attacks in the same location, typically targeting responders; and 3) multiple dispersed attacks, where groups stage simultaneous or near-simultaneous ones at different locations. Depending on the type, more than one incident scene might exist, but, taken together, they constitute a single attack, with repercussions greater than those of the individual-component category. With this in mind, understanding how terrorists use coordinated assaults can assist local emergency responders in better planning, training, and organizing to respond to such incidents.
Parallel devices allow terrorists to inflict greater damage in any one incident site without having to construct or transport a single, larger one required to create similar results. In other words, rather than relying on one large bomb, terrorists can use two or more smaller, yet equally lethal, ones. The reasonable assumption that smaller devices are less vulnerable to detection raises the likelihood of the attack’s execution. Moreover, regardless of the size of the bomb, even if one or more of the perpetrators is intercepted, others still may manage to complete their missions. Thus, parallel devices provide terrorists with greater assurance that they will execute at least part of their planned attack. The use of parallel devices also allows terrorists to create multiple focus points at the incident site, thereby expanding the overall perimeter affected by the attack. With this expansion comes greater demand for both responders and resources, which can tax emergency reaction elsewhere in the jurisdiction. At the same time, this high concentration of forces in a single location potentially increases their susceptibility to secondary attacks.
The triple-suicide bombing carried out by Hamas on September 4, 1997, on the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem can demonstrate a 3 parallel device attack. In that one, three males, one dressed as a woman, each detonated a 4- to 5-pound bomb packed with nuts and bolts to create puncture, as well as blast, injuries. Five people were killed and 181 were wounded.
Attackers also employed parallel devices in the October 12, 2002, attack in Bali, which killed 202. 4 The first blast, from a relatively small bomb, drew people out onto the street and was followed 10 to 15 seconds later by a much larger explosion, which caused most of the destruction. The near-simultaneous attacks increased the lethality of the bombings, which targeted mainly Western tourists.
Secondary attacks have two or more stages of attack. The first one draws in emergency responders, regardless of the extent of deaths and injuries. In the second, the responders themselves become the target and include not only law enforcement, fire and rescue, and emergency medical personnel but civilian Good Samaritans as well.
Targeting responders serves two main purposes. First, it threatens to delay or deny treatment to victims from the first stage of the attack, increasing the likelihood of death and the severity of injuries. Second, killing, injuring, or otherwise hindering responders exacerbates the public’s feelings of fear and helplessness by demonstrating the vulnerability of society’s guardians. To the extent that symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder result from both the trauma and the perceived powerlessness to influence events and outcomes, this type of attack might make such reactions more likely among responders and the public alike.
The Provisional IRA often used secondary devices.5 Similarly, two bombings in 1997— one at a clinic in suburban Atlanta that provided abortions and one at an Atlanta gay nightclub—also involved the use of secondary devices. 6
Dispersed attacks, like the other two types of coordinated assaults, seek to expand the extent and spread of damage and fear. When carried out within the same jurisdiction, they also threaten to exhaust response resources more quickly, which, as in the case of secondary attacks, could lead to delays in treatment or an increase in fear due to the perception of responders being overwhelmed.
The scope of the spread in dispersed attacks determines their impact on local responding agencies. Thus, for example, the crash of hijacked United Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001, taxed the responders in that and neighboring communities, but did not pull local responders from New York City, where they were needed to respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center.7 If planes were forced down in two locations on opposite sides of the same city, however, that city would have to divide its resources or rely more heavily on mutual aid.
Attacks carried out across jurisdictions or operational areas (or even across countries) create more political-strategic than local-tactical dispersion effects. The multiplicity of al-Qaeda’s assaults on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 (across countries) and of the ones of September 2001 (across states), for example, demonstrated to the world that al Qaeda could plan and execute highly lethal, near-simultaneous operations, hundreds of miles apart, against the world’s most powerful country. In both of these cases, the group had multiple tactical targets but only one strategic target—the United States. Al-Qaeda’s capability undoubtedly earned the group political capital both in terms of being taken seriously by the international community and for recruitment purposes around the world.
Al Qaeda and the groups it has inspired continue to rely on dispersed attacks, as evidenced in the May 2003 incidents in Morocco and Saudi Arabia. 8 These were at once dispersed across and within countries. The incidents in these two countries were dispersed in each—five simultaneous assaults in Casablanca and three simultaneous ones in Riyadh.
Other terrorist groups have carried out multiple dispersed attacks. The Hizbullah bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks and French military headquarters on October 23, 1983, killed 241 and 58, respectively.9 Almost a decade later, in the spring of 1993, the Provisional IRA executed a number of dispersed assaults, including the firebombing of two department stores, the hijacking and bombing of a pair of taxis in London, and the placing of bombs in trash cans a block apart to target those fleeing the first blast.10 The March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, which killed 12 and injured more than 1,000, also comprised multiple dispersed incidents. The attackers released gas via crude dispersal mechanisms simultaneously on five different subway cars on three separate lines.
Hoaxes also can cause fear and panic in a population, and terrorists have used simultaneous multiple dispersed hoaxes to create trouble for emergency responders. In January 2004, terrorists contacted law enforcement personnel in Belfast, Northern Ireland, indicating that they had placed multiple car bombs around the city. 12 The subsequent response to the calls strained the responder community and locked down traffic throughout the city. Given the credible threat, local law enforcement agencies had no choice but to respond.
Probably due to ease of planning and manufacture, the individual-component portions within coordinated incidents have tended to be of the same type, such as simultaneous or subsequent pipe bombs, car bombs, or suicide bombers. Little reason exists to believe that this trend will continue, especially in light of some recent examples of mixed-type attacks.
On December 1, 2001, just yards from where the triple-suicide bombing took place in Jerusalem more than 4 years earlier, Hamas carried out a double-suicide bombing, followed approximately 20 minutes later by a car bomb. 13 Eleven people were killed and approximately 180 were wounded in the combined explosions. This one proves noteworthy not only because it provides an example of different means being used in the same assault but also because it demonstrates that the types of coordinated attacks can be combined. The two suicide bombers made this a parallel device attack, while the car bomb turned it into a secondary one as well. Clearly, the categories described are not mutually exclusive.
Another mixed-type and mixed-category attack is the simultaneous al-Qaeda suicide and car bombings of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya (parallel devices), which occurred at the same time as the attempted shooting down of an Israeli 757 jetliner in the same city (dispersed attacks) on November 28, 2002. 14 While the aircraft emerged undamaged, 13 people were killed and approximately 80 were injured in the hotel bombings.
Coordinated attacks are not a new phenomenon. However, their increasing frequency makes it worth reviewing some of the implications for local responding agencies.
The potential for coordinated attacks means that local responders must have the capability to respond to multiple incidents at multiple locations. Positioning equipment and personnel in a central site might make organizational sense, but could turn into a liability in the event that attacks occur at opposite extremes of the operational area or if the equipment or personnel themselves become targets.
Agencies may find it tempting, especially in the face of a first terrorist attack, to “hyperrespond,” sending everyone and everything to the incident site. But, they should resist this temptation for two reasons. First, secondary attacks could target responders and equipment. It is prudent to hold some back (though obviously not to the detriment of necessary patient care or public safety) in anticipation of such an occurrence. Second, dispersed attacks or other types of routine emergencies will demand responders elsewhere. As is the case with any mass-casualty event, rapid availability of mutual aid remains critical.
Local responders know well the importance of prior planning and frequent and realistic training and exercises for making complex technical procedures a matter of habit. In this regard, responding to coordinated assaults is no different from reacting to any other type of emergency. Responders’ actions reflect the extent to which they have prepared and trained for such occurrences. Moreover, as response to hazardous device assaults involves fire and rescue, emergency medical, law enforcement, and other agencies, all must train together for coordinated attack scenarios.
With this in mind, local agencies should add coordinated attack response “playbooks” to their emergency operations plans. Alternatively, they could include coordinated attack scenarios in other existing playbooks for similar situations. Agencies should rigorously practice the new procedures so responders at all levels become thoroughly familiar with them.
Coordinated attack response planning and training should address command-level issues as well. Emergency response agencies should consider such questions as whether to designate single or multiple incident commanders at the dispersed locations and how best to allocate and coordinate limited resources among multiple attack sites.
It is difficult to know in advance whether secondary attacks will occur. An attack followed by a secondary one appears the same as a single assault until responders recognize that they have become the target. Therefore, responders must assume that terrorists will attempt one. This puts a premium on force protection, a role that falls primarily to law enforcement officials who can take a number of simple but crucial steps at the scene to help deter or prevent secondary attacks. These include establishing a secure perimeter far enough from the locus of the first assault to allow responders to do their jobs safely; sweeping for secondary devices; and monitoring, photographing, and interviewing bystanders, among whom might be eyewitnesses and terrorist spotters. Of importance, force protection, while essentially a law enforcement function, cannot be properly executed without the cooperation of and coordination with fire and rescue, emergency medical, and other responding agencies.
Along with the recent increase in coordinated attacks has come a corresponding rise in fatalities and injuries. Terrorists feel the need to create ever greater impact on their targeted societies, and coordinated assaults bring both added lethality and “newsworthiness.” Al Qaeda is not the only terrorist group attacking in this manner. Terrorists around the world are learning from each other’s successes and adopting and refining this tactic. For emergency responders, coordinated attacks bring not only greater danger to the public they serve but also the potential that responders themselves may be targeted. To mitigate the effects of such incidents, law enforcement agencies and other local responders must incorporate coordinated attack scenarios into their planning, training, and deployment.
1 Lawrence Wright, “The Terror Web,” The New Yorker, August 2, 2004; retrieved on August 5, 2004, from http://www.newyorker.com.
2 Pre-2001 data from Chris Quillen, “Mass Casualty Bombings Chronology,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 25 (2002): 293-302.
3 Serge Schmemann, “Bombings in Jerusalem: The Overview,” New York Times, September 7, 1997, sec. A1; and MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base; retrieved on August 4, 2004, from http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=2340.
4 U.S. Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2002 (Washington, DC, April 2003), 18; retrieved on February 1, 2004, from http://www.state.gov/ documents/organization/20177.pdf.
5 George Buck, Preparing for Terrorism: An Emergency Services Guide (Albany, NY: Delmar, 2002), 18; and Owen Bowcott, “Soldier Dies as IRA Bombers Ambush Patrol,” The Guardian, February 10, 1993, 2.
6 John Harmon, “Terrorism: It’s Getting Less Disciplined, More Dangerous,” Cox News Service, March 31, 1999.
7 This does not include federal resources, which could be a different matter.
8 “Bombs Kill at Least 20 in Downtown Casablanca,” CNN.com, May 19, 2003; retrieved on August 4, 2004, from http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/05/16/morocco.blasts/; and “U.S., Saudis Suspect al Qaeda in Riyadh Blasts,” CNN.com, May 13, 2002; retrieved on August 5, 2004, from http://www.cnn.com/ 2003/WORLD/meast/05/12 saudi.blast/.
9 Audrey Kurth Cronin, CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service, Terrorists and Suicide Attacks, August 28, 2003; retrieved on February 2, 2004, from http://www.mipt.org/pdf/CRS_RL32058.pdf.
10 “Bombs Set Shops Ablaze,” Daily Mail, May 10, 1993, 5; “Hijacked Drivers Chose to Risk Death,” The Times, April 27, 1993; and Ronald Faux, “Warrington Weeps for Lives Shattered by IRA Bombers,” The Times, March 22, 1993.
11 Many sources list over 5,000 injured in this attack. However, around 4,000 of those were diagnosed as “worried well.”
12 Claire Regan, “UDA Blamed for Hoax Alerts,” Belfast Telegraph, January 16, 2004.
13 Lee Hockstader, “Two Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 10 in Jerusalem: Attacks, Nearby Car Blast Wound 170 in Heart of City,” Washington Post, December 2, 2001, sec. A1.
14 Emily Wax, “Suicide Bombers Kill 12 at Resort in Kenya: Hotel Hosted Israelis, Missiles Fired Nearby at Plane,” Washington Post, November 29, 2002, sec. A1. Dr. Houghton is the director of research at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dr. Schachter is a lecturer at North-western University in Evanston, Illinois. The statements in this article reflect the personal opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the organizations with which they are affiliated.
The California Highway Patrol Academy in Sacramento presents its World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial Fountain, which honors the men and women who died in those attacks. Dedicated on August 11, 2004, the fountain features two rectangular black marble pillars, representing the twin towers, resting on a square concrete pedestal. A donated piece of a steel I beam from the World Trade Center rests between the two marble buildings. Behind the towers sits a large upright rectangular structure inscribed with the initials “WTC”; water flows over it, coming to rest in a pool at the foot of the pedestal.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2004, sets forth data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population. A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring on campus, as well as on the way to and from school. It provides the most current detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools. Information was gathered from an array of sources, including editions of the National Crime Victimization Survey, School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, School Survey on Crime and Safety, and the School and Staffing Survey. Highlights include the following: students ages 12 through 18 were victims of about 309,000 serious violent crimes away from school compared with about 88,000 on campus; between 1993 and 2003, the percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who reported being in a fight anywhere declined from 42 to 33 percent;and in 2003, 5 percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported being victims of nonfatal crimes, 4 percent said they experienced theft, and 1 percent advised being victims of violent incidents. This report is available online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/iscs04.htm.
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) presents Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets, which describes the issue and reviews the factors that increase the risks of drug dealing in open-air markets. The guide also identifies a series of questions that assist in analyzing a local problem and reviews responses and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice. This publication is available electronically at http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/ mime/open.pdf?Item=1423.
Bulletin Reports is an edited collection of criminal justice studies, reports, and project findings. Send your material for consideration to: FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Room 201, Madison Building, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135. (NOTE: The material in this section is intended to be strictly an information source and should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI for any product or service.)
State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2002, published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), includes data pertaining to personnel, facilities and resources, trainees, and curricula. Information was derived from the 2002 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies. Special topics include training related to terrorism, community policing, and racial profiling. Highlights feature the following: among basic law enforcement academy classes that completed training during 2002, an estimated 61,354 recruits started training and 53,302 (or 87 percent) successfully completed or graduated from the program; in 2002, academies employed about 12,200 full-time and 25,700 part-time trainers or instructors; and the total expenditures of training academies during fiscal 2002 was an estimated $725.6 million, including $351.2 million among county, regional, or state academies, $299.4 million among city or municipal academies, and $75.1 million among college, university, or technical school academies. This report can be accessed at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ abstract/slleta02.htm.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) offers Violent Victimization of College Students, 1995-2002, which examines the subject and compares the findings with persons of similar ages in the general population. In addition, the report describes the extent to which student victimization occurs at on- and off-campus locations and settings and analyzes the involvement of alcohol and other drugs. The report highlights the following statistics concerning persons 18 to 24 years of age between 1995 and 2002: male students were twice as likely to be victims of overall violence than females in college (80 versus 43 per 1,000); among races, Caucasian students had the highest rates of violent victimization; and, for females, those not in college were over 1.5 times more likely than students to be victims of violent crime (71 versus 43 per 1,000). This report is available online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/vvcs02.htm or by contacting the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 800-851-3420.
Law enforcement officers prove valuable to their communities in a variety of ways, not all of which can be measured easily. To this end, agencies often struggle to find methods to fairly evaluate their personnel. Departments must give factors, such as officer competence and courtesy, appropriate weight. Managers need to value the quality of the tasks performed and not focus only on the quantity.
However, fully and accurately evaluating personnel does require a fair measurement of productivity. “Understandably...law enforcement organizations do not condone ‘quotas’.... Rather, each agency does have certain expected levels of performance that they attempt to monitor officers’ performance by. The key is in developing some realistic measurement devices that will substantiate that the officer is working and that this work is 1meaningful to the community.” While departments must avoid mandating specific numbers for performance criteria, they still can gauge an officer’s productivity by analyzing certain measurable activities related to the job. This then can provide useful insight for incorporation into the employee’s overall evaluation. The Conway, Arkansas, Police Department has a system in place to conduct quantitative, employable measures of its officers’ performance. Further, it has found that in response to fair and meaningful evaluation, its personnel strive for higher standards. “When employees feel their hard work 2 counts for something, they strive to do their best.”
The officer’s daily activity report collects the raw data for eventual use in the monthly productivity analysis report for the shift. The information is divided into two control areas: 1) items that the employee has no control over (e.g., assignments from dispatchers, such as calls for service, incident reports taken, accidents worked, and alarms responded to) and 2) areas that the officer has total control over (e.g., contacts with citizens or violators, citations written, warnings issued, and arrests made). Each agency can make its own assessment of which functions fit into each category and design its daily report accordingly. By examining these two control areas, departments can analyze an officer’s activities and compare them with the time afforded the individual to perform those duties.
In the daily activity report used by the Conway Police Department, the “criminal arrest” and “traffic arrest” sections represent the total control area, while “reports and calls” pertains to the no-control category. The “hours spent” portion reveals the total number of hours available for police patrol functions. Agencies must ensure that they retain documentation of every call and activity. The Conway Police Department keeps warnings in writing and records miscellaneous other calls in the narrative area of the daily report. Then, the items can be compared with the dispatch log to verify that personnel did not miss or drop any calls or attempt to pad their statistics with fictional activities. While it may seem time consuming to verify each officer’s daily report, this task requires only a small portion of the shift commander’s day.
The officer’s monthly activity report lists, by day, the totals from each section of the daily reports. Hours scheduled on duty usually will equal 40 per week, on 8- or 10-hour shifts, totaling between 160 to 190 per month. The number of hours available for police patrol activities equals those scheduled on duty minus those spent on detail. Departments may differ on what constitutes time on detail; the key is to apply a uniform standard for all personnel. The Conway Police Department considers time on detail as any activity that takes the officer away from normal patrol functions during the scheduled work day, excluding meal and rest breaks as officers remain subject to call at these times. Leave falls within this category and sick time is tracked separately to guard against possible abuse.
All items in the officer’s monthly report are totaled at the bottom. This information then becomes used in the monthly productivity analysis report for the shift.
| Officer | Miles Driven | Felony Arrests |
Misdemeanor Arrests |
DWI | Moving Citations |
Nonmoving Citations |
Warning Tickets |
Enforcement Services |
Accident Reports | Incident Reports | Other Call |
Total Service Calls |
Total Hours |
Hours of Sick Time Used |
Hours on Detail (e.g., Court, Vacation) |
Hours Worked |
Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allen |
450 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
0 |
14 |
16 |
30 |
160 |
0 |
82 |
78 |
0.551 |
Brady |
578 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
11 |
6 |
33 |
3 |
22 |
55 |
80 |
160 |
0 |
53 |
107 |
1.056 |
Clark |
731 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
4 |
9 |
16 |
38 |
5 |
30 |
26 |
61 |
160 |
0 |
36 |
124 |
0.798 |
Davis |
629 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
22 |
29 |
5 |
19 |
20 |
44 |
160 |
16 |
21 |
123 |
0.593 |
Evans |
568 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
15 |
27 |
2 |
26 |
36 |
64 |
160 |
0 |
8 |
152 |
0.599 |
Fitzgerald |
949 |
5 |
14 |
0 |
2 |
15 |
10 |
46 |
6 |
36 |
17 |
59 |
160 |
0 |
10 |
150 |
0.700 |
Gill |
635 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
10 |
29 |
3 |
42 |
44 |
89 |
160 |
0 |
31 |
129 |
0.915 |
Hardy |
715 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
25 |
40 |
3 |
22 |
33 |
58 |
160 |
8 |
31 |
121 |
0.810 |
Lewis |
822 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
12 |
13 |
32 |
8 |
27 |
16 |
51 |
160 |
0 |
21 |
139 |
0.597 |
Martin |
508 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
9 |
27 |
4 |
35 |
21 |
60 |
160 |
8 |
19 |
133 |
0.654 |
Taylor |
192 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
19 |
20 |
43 |
160 |
0 |
96 |
64 |
0.828 |
Yates |
847 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
10 |
12 |
30 |
5 |
18 |
4 |
27 |
160 |
0 |
50 |
110 |
0.518 |
Column Totals |
7624 |
18 |
42 |
1 |
59 |
89 |
145 |
354 |
48 |
310 |
308 |
666 |
1920 |
32 |
458 |
1430 |
8.62 |
Average |
635.3 |
1.5 |
3.5 |
0.1 |
4.9 |
7.4 |
12 |
29.5 |
4 |
26 |
26 |
55.5 |
160 |
2.7 |
38.2 |
119 |
0.72 |
The monthly productivity analysis report for the shift allows the supervisor to clearly see areas of interest and make comparisons of individual performance against overall shift averages (and never against those of another officer). Supervisors can use this analysis to encourage employees to strive for the shift averages or to commend an officer for exceeding them. Over time, continued high or low performance levels will reflect in the employee’s appraisal, and the manager will have ample documentation to support the rating. Also, because of the differences and variables,agencies should not make comparisons between the shifts. Departments should compare shift
averages only with those of the division, and they must consider the differences between the shifts and any specialty sections (e.g., traffic reconstruction, motorcycle, or code enforcement). This allows for a broad analysis for the entire division. Upon analysis of the data, several items immediately stand out in the “total” row. These include miles driven by the shift; enforcement activities for the month (e.g., citations, arrests, or warnings); calls for service (e.g., accidents worked or incidents reported); number of scheduled work hours; and those spent on patrol and on detail. The “average” row at the bottom of the report reflects the shift average for each item. The “average” column at the right side of the report reflects each officer’s ratio for activities performed compared with the amount of time available to accomplish those functions; this serves as the foundation through which managers can determine productivity levels for each employee. Departments can calculate this ratio by adding the number of enforcement activities to total calls for service and then dividing that sum by the number of hours worked. Then, managers can see how employee performance compares with ideal standards.
After collecting and documenting sufficient data in the monthly productivity analysis reports, departments can consolidate them into an annual report for submission to the division commander and, ultimately, to the chief of police. As annual
Enforcement activities (354) + Calls for service (666) = Total patrol activities (1,020) = Ratio (.72)
---------------------------------
Hours worked (1,430)
reports accumulate, long-term analysis of this information will reflect trends and provide insight to help managers identify community problems or areas in need of improvement.
Substandard – Below .50
Average – .50 to .65
Above average – .66 to .80
Excellent – .81 to 1.0
Outstanding – Above 1.0
The value of officers is not always easily measured. Certainly, desired qualities, such as integrity and bravery, do not show up in a productivity report. But, some measurable performance standards must exist. These enable supervisors “to bring sanity, fairness, and consistency to supervisory tasks, enhance performance levels, and make promotions, awards, and disciplinary actions fair.”3 The Conway Police Department uses a method that allows for objective measures of officer productivity. The agency has found that the system not only provides a solid foundation on which to base its employee ratings but also motivates its personnel to continue to improve in response to a fair and meaningful performance evaluation system.
1 Mike Mashburn, “14 Points,” CJI Management Briefs 4, no. 3, sec. 11 (1999): 1-3.
2 Michael Kramer, “Designing an Individualized Performance Evaluation System: A Values-Based Process,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, March 1998, 20-26.
3 Tony Jones, “Developing Performance Standards,” Law and Order, July 1998, 109-112.
Lieutenant Herndon serves with the Conway, Arkansas, Police Department.
The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin seeks transcripts of presentations made by criminal justice professionals for its Notable Speech department. Anyone who has delivered a speech recently and would like to share the information with a wider audience may submit a transcript of the presentation to the Bulletin for consideration.
As with article submissions, the Bulletin staff will edit the speech for length and clarity, but, realizing that the information was presented orally, maintain as much of the original flavor as possible. Presenters should submit their transcripts typed and double-spaced on 8 ½- by 11-inch white paper with all pages numbered. When possible, an electronic version of the transcript saved on computer disk should accompany the document. Send the material to:
Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin FBI Academy Madison Building, Room 201 Quantico, VA 22135 telephone: 703-632-1952, e-mail: leb@fbiacademy.edu
A computer-generated facial reconstruction of victim as created by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Photograph of clay sculpture craniofacial reconstruction of victim by Gigi Waite of Cleveland, Ohio. Front right tooth was chipped after skeletal remains were recovered.
On October 16, 1997, a man hunting in a wooded area near Indian Creek Road,south of Kelly Springs Road in the vicinity of Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, discovered skeletal remains wrapped in plastic sheeting commonly used in building construction, secured with gray duct tape. The crime scene was processed, and the remains were recovered and transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Tuscaloosa for examination.
The skeletal remains were those of a white female, approximately 15 to 19 years old, between 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 1 inch tall, with shoulder-length dark blond or light brown hair with a possible reddish tint, and a gap between the two upper- front teeth. The victim may have been wearing a white with broad blue stripes casual, sleeveless top, size unknown, which was found near the remains outside of the plastic sheeting. The victim’s eye color and estimation of weight could not be determined. No jewelry was recovered. It is believed that the victim had been deceased for a period of up to 1 year before the discovery. Based on the evidence collected, the female victim probably died as a result of a homicide. The victim’s National Crime Information Center number is U071281620.
Law enforcement agencies should bring this information to the attention of all crime analysis units, officers investigating crimes against persons, and missing person units. A dental chart is available and the victim’s DNA has been registered with the FBI Laboratory, National Missing Person DNA Database. Any agency that believes that this unidentified homicide victim matches their missing person should contact Investigator Sergeant Charles Berry of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at 256-532-3713 or cberry@co.madison.al.us; or Crime Analyst Glen W. Wildey, Jr., of the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) Unit at 703-632-4166 or gwildeyj@leo.gov.
Common Sense Police Supervision:Practical Tips for the First-Line Leader,third edition, by Gerald W. Garner, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois,2003. Common Sense Police Supervision is an outstanding book by an author with in-depth knowledge of supervision in the field of law enforcement. It is a book designed, researched, and written by an experienced professional who presents a functional and applicable approach to the demands of law enforcement supervision.
Unlike in other careers, supervising law enforcement personnel, who have an awesome life-and-death responsibility in their dealings with the public, is not an easy task. In the exercise of effective law enforcement, supervisors bring not only their life experiences and duty performance in different assignments but also their common sense, which requires the application of sound judgment and prudent performance activity backed up with reasoning and logical decision making. This book contains a great deal of common-sense information for supervisors of law enforcement personnel.
In the first two chapters, the author presents what basic law enforcement supervision entails and what a member transiting from the line operation into line or other supervision arenas should know and expect to become an effective supervisor. Chapters 3 through 5address the need to know ethics in supervision and the qualities of effective leadership characteristics, as well as the educational role that a supervisor must exercise. The law enforcement leader as an evaluator is critical as outlined in chapter 6 where the author provides sound approaches in terms of guidelines and pitfalls.
The next chapter identifies what is important to the supervisor concerning the fair distribution of discipline. In chapters 8 through 10, the author documents the topics of common-sense planning and establishing goals and objectives for employees and follows these with a chapter on the elements, hazards, and benefits of effective communication. The next several chapters address common-sense aspects of law enforcement leaders, including their role as counselor and complaint processor; how they can deal with special internal problems, such as strife; and their role in community policing, as well as in officer survival. The final two chapters, new to the third addition, also entail common-sense aspects that leaders must know and exercise when representing their agencies on television or radio and when preparing news releases. The author has documented the traps to avoid, while, in the last chapter, he sets forth what it takes to achieve exceptional customer service.
Common Sense Police Supervision applies to the experienced, as well as the newly promoted, supervisor and to those members aspiring to become one in the future. This book covers content applicable to all law enforcement agencies at the town, city, county, state, and federal level. It is an interesting read, and the information proves supportive to the assessment center process.
Reviewed by Major Larry R. Moore (Ret.) U. S. Army Military Police Corps Certified Emergency Manager International Association of Emergency Managers Knoxville, Tennessee
Unique work demands and corresponding stress levels increasingly require that those in the law enforcement profession establish lifelong wellness habits. However, one 40-year longitudinal study from 1950 through 1990 found that, appallingly, the life expectancy of a retired male police officer in the 1 United States was 66 years.
Why do some officers succumb to life-threatening habits, such as the lack of physical activity and exercise, smoking and excessive drinking habits, and depression, that increase the risk of obesity? To counter the obesity epidemic and general lack of physical fitness, law enforcement professionals should spend as much time as necessary adequately establishing lifelong wellness routines.
Using the body mass index (BMI)—a measurement tool to determine excess body weight in relation to height—obesity classifies as a range of 30 or higher and overweight between 25 to 29.9. The BMI has become a potential indicator of hypertension, certain cancers, and diabetes. Estimates place ranges of overweight and obesity between 60 and 65 percent in the general population with approximately one-third of the general population classified as obese. 2
Many statistics and related information exist about the health status of the general population, and several concern the law enforcement profession. In October 2003, the author administered a questionnaire to 75 law enforcement executives and other professionals. Part of the questionnaire included a BMI exercise and nutritional assessment. Based on the BMI, 80 percent of the respondents classified as overweight with approximately one-third identified in the obese category. 4
Additionally, research has identified 53 stressors associated with police work. Officers suffer more often from heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes than the general public. They have an above average risk for heart attacks, obesity, arthritis, ulcers, and cancer while also prone to bouts of depression and suicide. Further, nearly 30 percent of police officers overindulge in alcohol compared with 10 percent of the general population.
The costs for illnesses and diseases are staggering. After adding expenses for injuries, the impact is beyond calculation. Many of the maladies to which countless law enforcement personnel succumb refer to “modifiable risk factors,” which means that health conditions and related costs can be affected. For example, disease costs include heart diseases at $183 billion; cancer, $157 billion; diabetes, $100 billion; and arthritis, $65 billion. 5
Most entry-level law enforcement training academies employ a significant amount of hours of physical training as a key component in their curricula, yet some may lack mandated guidance or standards relative to contemporary well-ness or exercise science. Further, such training sometimes does not link physical fitness with the skills needed for the job. Exercises used in academy training should be performed correctly and be relative to the health requirements or job duties of veteran officers. Unfortunately, some departments have abandoned fitness standards after being sued by employees for failing to make these crucial connections. Further, disconnects in education and training can manifest unfavorably later in law enforcement officers’ careers. Performing physical activity requires a sufficient knowledge base and a commensurate level of education and skill to avoid hazardous and even deadly lifestyles to an employee’s health.
Furthermore, department leaders must believe and participate in lifelong wellness for their employees to embrace the concept. Some law enforcement organizations assign an individual to implement the standards without conducting the proper research regarding the needs of their particular agency; doing so may set up the department to fail. The standards implementation approach is effective but, generally, not the first step. Organizations must have adequate internal marketing and a genuine interest in employee health to respond to resistance from employee groups that might seek to thwart attempts to impose such mandates.
Mr. Shell, a retired lieutenant with the Maryland State Police, currently serves as the special projects coordinator for the Division of Public Safety Leadership at Johns Hopkins University.
The law enforcement community should examine its physical fitness training and long-term health programs to ensure an efficient and competent force. The beginning point for establishing lifelong well-ness habits starts with incorporating best practices (e.g., exercise science) in entry-level fitness programs. The physical training goal should match other mandated, physically demanding classes, such as arrest and control strategies and defensive tactics, that directly align with the actual skill needs of patrol officers. Contemporary exercise includes screening and testing fitness levels and designing individual exercise prescriptions linked to other physical demands of the law enforcement profession. Departments can use professional resources to educate their law enforcement personnel to incorporate wellness habits at entry-level training that will last an entire career and, further, lifetime. For example, one research and education organization used law enforcement job task analysis data to develop corresponding fitness assessments, testing protocols, and related standards applicable to police and firefighter personnel. 6
Arguments for not implementing fitness standards often center around the cost involved and, perhaps, a union’s disapproval. Certainly, department heads should take cost-effectiveness into consideration when developing long-term health programs. And, they should examine other far more costly factors, such as police academy and related on-duty injuries, chronic use or abuse of sick leave, and early medical retirements. Organizations should implement plans to redirect this money to lifelong wellness initiatives. Every law enforcement agency should consider several factors as a worthwhile investment and savings, including corporate wellness programs; insurance companies that offer lower premiums to organizations demonstrating a commitment to lifelong wellness plans; and exercise and nutritional science education for employees.
What does the law enforcement profession need to succeed in lifelong wellness initiatives? Mounting evidence points to the physical trainer as a critical link in the chain of physical fitness. The obesity epidemic and corresponding need to hire the most skilled physical trainers should particularly concern those in the law enforcement profession, their loved ones, and the communities they serve.
The goal of reengineering how and who should conduct the training can foster the momentum a department requires to educate, train, and sustain during the most stressful times, producing a workforce with a level of health and fitness commensurate with the job demands. Such a combination ensures that law enforcement leaders have personnel who embrace a quality of life, which increases dedication to the profession during their tenure of employment and beyond.
Before hiring a physical trainer, managers should know the person’s background, education, and certifications. Assigning unqualified trainers who place aggressive physical demands on personnel can prove harmful and even deadly. Departments should contact accredited professional organizations in the physical fitness industry, steering clear of vogue programs. Also, by teaming with the department’s human resource manager, physician, cafeteria staff, union leaders, training academy director, certification personnel and professionals from accredited fitness organizations, agencies can begin holistically selecting a physical trainer. Once such a partnership is formed, organizations should ensure that trainers develop programs that match physical fitness demands with the body movements, joint actions, and biomechanics of an employee’s particular job duties. For example, without properly training the shoulder and rotator cuff muscles (often neglected in shoulder training), the demands of defensive tactics training can end a career.
Departments should ensure that their physical trainers teach contemporary exercise science and use a functional fitness assessment, identifying the strengths and weaknesses in people seeking to be trained to a specific level of performance. Such an evaluation results in more individuals doing well, as opposed to a “one size fits all” approach in which only some survive. Those who do not prevail often are viewed as unable to “cut it” when, in fact, they received poor training.
Further, positive reinforcement generates favorable results. The use of exercise as punishment for infractions (in the academy environment) does not reap rewards. In fact, it serves as a negative reinforcement, which will turn people away from embracing the important aspects of exercise.
The goal of lifelong wellness is not to produce a “super” law enforcement officer who can push cars; jump over buildings, walls, or other obstacles; and run all day. Law enforcement agencies should implement programs that prepare officers within their own genetical potential to perform their jobs in good health for the length of their careers. The physical trainer plays a critical role in producing this type of officer. By using existing exercise and nutritional science, technology, and the expertise of those most knowledgeable in the industry, agencies can complete this mission.
No matter the perspectives, operations, budgets, resource allocations, or human resources, the up-front preparation in ensuring wellness in law enforcement academies and beyond can prove far less costly than not doing so. Lifelong wellness and fitness proves an investment now and in the future of American public safety personnel. Thus, selecting the best physical trainers for them is paramount. Law enforcement leaders should thoroughly review varied aspects of the health and fitness arena before placing an individual in this essential position. Further, they should examine whether the person needs to be in a sworn position.
Leaders should prepare for a department of healthy and fit personnel by recruiting, hiring, training, and educating the workforce for the future. Physical activity, exercise, and nutritional lifestyle changes are not blocks of time in stand-alone presentations. Rather, they offer a lifetime of rewards if implemented and maintained correctly. Investing the time to properly plan a fitness program and select the most desirable physical trainer for the department will glean the most positive results; planning the program takes time and effort.
• Take time to properly plan an effective physical fitness program
• Hire qualified, professional trainers
• Develop fitness programs that match individual job duties
• Conduct internal marketing to educate employees and gain support
• Ensure consistent advocacy from agency leaders
• Discover the ongoing rewards
1 J.M. Violanti, J.E. Vena, and S. Petralia, “Mortality of a Police Cohort: 1950-1990, American Journal of Industrial Medicine 33, no. 4 (1997): 366-373.
2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2000.
3 The Police Executive Leadership Program Class Exercise and Nutrition Questionnaire, administered by Daniel E. Shell, Division of Public Safety Leadership, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, October 2003).
4 Information in this paragraph was derived from Scott Teeter, “Police Officers’ Stress Can Be Managed,” The Oak Ridge Online-Community, August 20, 1998; retrieved on November 16, 2004, from http://www.oakridger.com/stories/082098/com_police.html.
5 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cost of Illness for Selected Diseases, 2000; http://www.nih.gov.
6 For more information, visit the Cooper Institute at http://www.cooperinst.org.
The Bulletin invites criminal justice professionals to submit reviews of recently published nonfiction books they have read on topics relative to their field of expertise for possible inclusion in its Book Review department. The magazine publishes only positive reviews of between 350 and 500 words or 1½ to 2 pages double-spaced. As with article submissions, the Bulletin staff will edit book reviews for style, length, clarity, and format.
Book reviewers should include two or three compelling points that the author makes, along with the complete title of the work; the names of the authors or editors; and the publishing company, city and state, and publication date. As a guide, the staff suggests that reviewers examine book reviews in past issues of the Bulletin to acquaint themselves with the magazine’s requirements. Reviewers should submit their book reviews typed and double-spaced on 8½- by 11-inch white paper with all pages numbered. Reviewers should include an electronic version of the review saved on computer disk. Send book reviews to:
Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
FBI Academy
Madison Building, Room 201
Quantico, VA 22135
telephone: 703-632-1952
e-mail: leb@fbiacademy.edu
Write about topics that interest you. Write about problems that you, your department, or community have solved. Possible Bulletin topics include the following:
Authors should write in third person and use active voice. They should supply references when quoting a source exactly, citing or paraphrasing another person’s work or ideas, or referring to information that generally is not well known. Authors should study several issues of the magazine to ensure that their writing style meets the Bulletin’s requirements. Most important, authors should contact the Bulletin staff for the expanded author guidelines, which contain additional specifications, detailed examples, and effective writing techniques, or access www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/leb.htm.
The Bulletin judges articles on relevance to the audience, factual accuracy, analysis of the information, structure and logical flow, style and ease of reading, and length. The staff edits all manuscripts for length, clarity, format, and style.
The Bulletin generally does not publish articles on similar topics within a 12-month period or accept articles previously published or currently under consideration by other magazines. Because it is a government publication, the Bulletin cannot accept articles that advertise a product or service.
How Do You Submit an Article?
E-mail: leb@fbiacademy.edu
The Bulletin staff will review queries and articles and advise the authors of acceptance or rejection. The magazine cannot guarantee a publication date for accepted articles.
Authors should submit three copies of their articles typed and double-spaced on 8½- by 11-inch white paper with all pages numbered. Authors should include an electronic version of the article saved on computer disk. A photograph of the author(s) should accompany the article. Authors also may e-mail articles.
Law enforcement officers are challenged daily in the performance of their duties; they face each challenge freely and unselfishly while answering the call to duty. In certain instances, their actions warrant special attention from their respective departments. The Bulletin also wants to recognize those situations that transcend the normal rigors of the law enforcement profession.
Early one morning, Officer Alan Farnham of the Chesapeake, Virginia, Police Department responded to a house fire. Arriving before the fire department, he observed that flames had fully engulfed the front of the house. After learning from a resident that an elderly bedridden woman was still inside, Officer Farnham immediately ran to the rear of the residence and forced entry through a door. Upon searching the smoke-filled house, he found the victim lying in bed and carried her outside to safety just as fire department personnel arrived. The brave actions of Officer Farnham saved the woman from the blaze that destroyed her home.
Sergeant Robert Breck of the Utah Highway Patrol was one of the first responders to a 59-vehicle accident that occurred amidst heavy fog, low visibility, and icy road conditions. Sergeant Breck discovered a young woman trapped in her vehicle under a truck trailer, both of which were becoming enveloped by flames because of erupted fuel tanks. Unable to free her, Sergeant Breck feverishly fought the fire with extinguishers and calmed the victim. He remained with her, even as the smoke intensified and wreckage began to collapse, until additional help arrived to remove the young woman from the vehicle. Because of the heroic actions of Sergeant Breck, the victim escaped with only minor injuries.
Nominations for the Bulletin Notes should be based on either the rescue of one or more citizens or arrest(s) made at unusual risk to an officer’s safety. Submissions should include a short write-up (maximum of 250 words), a separate photograph of each nominee, and a letter from the department’s ranking officer endorsing the nomination. Submissions should be sent to the Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Madison Building, Room 201, Quantico, VA 22135.
U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation
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