Thompson Proposes 7 Critical Steps to Enable Law Enforcement Information Sharing
Today, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, issued a report that analyzes institutional failures and a lack of initiative by this Administration to enable law enforcement officers as first preventers in the War on Terror.
The report, entitled “LEAP: A Law Enforcement Assistance and Partnership Strategy,” finds that a lack of information sharing between Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement dangerously limits the capabilities of police officers.
“We are long overdue in providing police and sheriffs’ officers with the basic information they need to take on the critical homeland security role that the 9/11Commission and others have identified for them,” said Rep. Thompson.
“This report realizes the very tools that State and local police are telling us they need. Rather than imposing a directive from Washington, these findings respond to real needs at the ground level,” said Rep. Thompson.
The report lays out seven necessary initiatives, including:
- Plans to establish a National Center for Intelligence-Led Policing;
- Help major city chiefs defray the costs of a foreign liaison detail program;
- Develop a “border intelligence” resource at border state fusion centers;
- Fund local and tribal participation at those centers;
- Establish a program at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to incorporate law enforcement officers in the intelligence production process;
- A system to get law enforcement executives who need them security clearances; and
- A initiative that can track the progress of these and other intelligence-led policing efforts.
“In preparing this report, I talked with a number of police chiefs and sheriffs around the country, who shared with me their particular needs. LEAP fulfills those requirements and if enacted into law, will better secure the homeland and better enable cops,” said Rep. Thompson.
For More Information:
Please contact Dena Graziano or Todd Levett at (202) 226-2616
VIEW THE REPORT
LEAP: Law Enforcement Assistance and Partnership Strategy
