Collaboration Between Federal and Local Law Enforcement

Abstract

Collaboration between law enforcement agencies, at all levels of government, has been identified as a salient component of post–September 11 policing. This study surveys a representative sample of Texas police chiefs concerning their perceptions of the level of collaboration that is occurring between their respective departments and federal agencies. Results suggest that the majority of chiefs hold generally low perceptions of federal-local collaboration. Furthermore, regression analyses show that preparedness and departmental strategy perceptions are predictive of federal-local collaboration. Regarding structural factors, chiefs of large departments as well as university departments are more likely to report higher levels of collaboration with federal agencies. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

collaboration homeland security police chiefs policing federal law enforcement

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abell

R. B.

(1988). Effective systems for regional intelligence sharing. Police Chief, 55(11), 58-59.

Abrams

(1983). Federal criminal law enforcement. In Kadish

S. H.

(Ed.), Encyclopedia of crime and justice (pp. 779-785). New York, NY: Free Press.

Attorney General’s Task Force on Violent Crime. (1981). Final report. Washington, DC. U.S. Department of Justice.

Birkland

(1997). After disaster: Agenda setting, public policy, and focusing events. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Bratton

W. J.

Kelling

G. J.

Eddy

R. P.

(2007, September 20). The blue front line in the war on terror. City Journal. Retrieved from http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-09-20.html

Brown

(2007). Community policing in post-September 11 America: A comment on the concept of community-oriented counterterrorism. Police Practice & Research, 8, 239-251.

Carafano

(2007). U.S. thwarts 19 terrorist attacks against American since 9/11. Backgrounder (No. 2085). Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2007/11/US-Thwarts-19-Terrorist-Attacks-Against-America-Since-9-11

Chappell

A. T.

Gibson

S. A.

(2009). Community policing and homeland security policing: Friend or foe? Criminal Justice Policy Review, 20, 274-289.

Conly

C. H.

(1989). Organizing for computer crime investigation and prosecution. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

10.

Crank

Langworthy

(1992). An institutional perspective of policing. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 83, 338-363.

11.

Davis

L. M.

Riley

J. K.

Ridgeway

Pace

Cotton

S. K.

Steinberg

P. S.

. . . Smith

B. L.

(2004). When terrorism hits home: How prepared are state and local law enforcement? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

12.

Department of Homeland Security. (2007). National strategy for homeland security. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/nat_strat_homelandsecurity_2007.pdf

13.

Department of Homeland Security. (2008). National response framework. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-core.pdf

14.

Eisenstein

(1978). Counsel for the United States. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.

15.

Emery

(2009, October). It’s official: The ATF and FBI don’t get along. Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1932091,00.html

16.

Feeley

M. M.

Sarat

A. D.

(1980). The policy dilemma: Federal crime policy and the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 1968-1978. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

17.

Fitzgerald

P. J.

(2006, December 6). Federal task force arrests Rockford man in foiled plan to set off grenades in Rockford shopping mall [Press release]. Chicago, IL: U.S. Department of Justice.

18.

Foster

Cordner

(2005). The impact of terrorism on state law enforcement: Adjusting to new roles and changing conditions. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

19.

Geller

W. A.

Morris

(1992). Relations between federal and local police. In Tonry

Morris

(Eds.), Modern policing (pp. 231-348). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

20.

Goldstein

(1977). Policing in a free society. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

21.

Goodman

(2008). Making consequence management work: Applying the lesson of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Homeland Security Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.hsaj.org/?essays:fullarticle=essays.1.4

22.

Government Accountability Office. (2005). Results-oriented government: Practices that can help enhance and sustain collaboration among federal agencies (GAO-06-15). Washington, DC: Author.

23.

Hair

J. F.

Anderson

R. E.

Tatham

R. L.

Black

W. C.

(1998). Multivariate data analysis with readings (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

24.

Hancock

(2001, October 22). “Lackawanna six” plead not guilty. CBS News.com. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/23/attack/main522894.shtml

25.

Hedgpeth

(2010). More cops hold top-secret clearances. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/top-secretamerica/2010/08/more_cops_hold_top_secret_clea.html

26.

Hickman

M. J.

Reaves

B. A.

(2003). Intelligence gathering and networking. In Kemp

(Ed.), Homeland security: Best practices (pp. 23-28). Washington, DC: International City/County Management.

27.

Hills

H. M.

Jr. (2005). Is federalism good for localism? The localist case for federal regimes. Journal of Law & Politics, 21, 187-221.

28.

International Association of Chiefs of Police. (2005). From hometown security to homeland security. Retrieved June 15, 2008, from http://www.theiacp.org/leg_policy/HomelandSecurityWP.PDF

29.

Kappeler

V. E.

Miller-Potter

K. S.

(2004). Policing in an age of terrorism. In Thurman

Q. C.

Giacomazzi

(Eds.), Controversies in policing (pp. 27-40). Newark, NJ: LexisNexis.

30.

Katz

Kahn

R. L.

(1978). The social psychology of organizations (2nd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley.

31.

Katz

C. M.

Maguire

E. R.

Roncek

D. W.

(2002). The creation of specialized police gang units. Policing, 25, 472-506.

32.

Kean

T. H.

Hamilton

L. H.

(2004). The 9-11 Commission report. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

33.

Kettl

D. L.

(2003). The states and homeland security: Building the missing link. Washington, DC: The Century Foundation.

34.

Kettl

D. L.

(2007). System under stress: Homeland security and American politics (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press.

35.

Knickerbocker

(2002, December 24). Risk of terrorism to nation’s food supply. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1224/p02s01-usgn.html

36.

Lawson

(2008, February 7). The fear factory. Rollingstone Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/18137343/the_fear_factory

37.

Lee

J. V.

(2010). Policing after 9/11: Community policing in an age of homeland security. Police Quarterly, 13, 347-366.

38.

Ludden

(2008, January 11). Local police taking on immigration enforcement. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18024294

39.

Ludwig

Donahue

J. J.

(2007, March). More COPS. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/03crime_ludwig.aspx

40.

Lyons

(2002). Partnerships, information and public safety: Community policing in a time of terror. Policing, 25, 530-542.

41.

Marion

N. E.

Oliver

W. M.

(2006). The public policy of crime and criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

42.

Markon

(2008, May 10). FBI, ATF battle for control of cases. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050903096.html

43.

Meese

III DeHart

(1996). How Washington subverts your local sheriff. Policy Review. Retrieved from http://www.constitution.org/cmt/meese.html

44.

Morris

S. E.

(1989). The importance of cooperative enforcement programs Police Chief, 56(11), 11.

45.

Mueller

R. S.

III . (2003, March 4). The war against terrorism: Working together to protect America (Testimony of Robert S. Mueller III, Director, FBI before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary). Retrieved October 6, 2008, from http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mueller030403.htm

46.

Murphy

G. R.

Plotkin

M. R.

(2003). Protecting your community from terrorism: Strategies for local law enforcement. Vol. 1: Local-federal partnerships. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.

47.

Myers

A. L.

(2009, July 31). Joe Arpaio ignores feds, won’t stop arresting illegal immigrants. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/31/joe-arpaio-ignores-feds-w_n_248926.html#comments

48.

Office of Domestic Preparedness. (2003). Guidelines for homeland security: Prevention and deterrence. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/odp/docs/ODPPrev1.pdf

49.

Office of Homeland Security. (2002). National strategy for homeland security. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/book/nat_strat_hls.pdf

50.

Office of Inspector General. (2003). The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s efforts to improve the sharing of intelligence and other information. Washington, DC: Office of Inspector General.

51.

Office of National Drug Control Policy. (1990). National drug control strategy. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

52.

Oliver

W. M.

(2000). The third generation of community policing: Moving through innovation, diffusion, and institutionalization. Police Quarterly, 3(4), 367-388.

53.

Oliver

W. M.

(2004, March/April). The homeland security juggernaut: The end of The community policing era? Crime & Justice International, 20, 4-10.

54.

Oliver

W. M.

(2007). Homeland security for policing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

55.

Oliver

W. M.

Stewart

D. M.

(2004, March). Homeland security through community policing: Conceptual integrity or fiscal piracy? Paper presented at the meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Las Vegas, NV.

56.

Payne

B. K.

Berg

B. L.

Sun

I. Y.

(2005). Policing in small town America: Dogs, drunks, disorder, and dysfunction. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 31-41.

57.

Pelfrey

W. V.

(2005). The cycle of preparedness: Establishing a framework to prepare for terrorist threats. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 2(5). Retrieved June 1, 2007, from http://www.bepress.com/jhsem/vol2/iss1/5

58.

Pelfrey

W. V.

Jr. (2007). Local law enforcement terrorism prevention efforts: A state level case study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35, 313-321.

59.

Perry

S. W.

(2010). Justice expenditure and employment extracts, 2007. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.

60.

Phillips

P. W.

(1999). De facto police consolidation: The multi-jurisdictional task force. Police Forum, 9(3), 1-6.

61.

Reaves

B. A.

(2006). Federal law enforcement officers, 2004. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

62.

Reaves

B. A.

(2007). Census of state and local law enforcement agencies, 2004. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

63.

Richman

(2000). The changing boundaries between federal and local law enforcement. In Friel

C. M.

(Ed.), Criminal Justice. Vol. 2: Boundary changes in criminal justice organizations (pp. 81-111). Washington DC: National Institute of Justice.

64.

Richman

(2006). The past, present and future of violent crime federalism. Crime & Justice, 34, 337-439.

65.

Riley

K. J.

Treverton

G. F.

Wilson

J. M.

Davis

L. M.

(2002). State and local intelligence in the war on terrorism. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

66.

Russakof

Eggen

(2007, May 9). Six charged in plot to attack Fort Dix. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/05/08/AR2007050800465.html

67.

Russell-Einhorn

Ward

Seeherman

(2000). Federal-local law enforcement collaboration in investigating and prosecuting urban crime,1982–1999: Drugs, weapons, and gangs. Washington DC: Abt Associates Inc.

68.

Schafer

J. A.

Burruss

G. W.

Jr. Giblin

M. J.

(2009). Measuring homeland security innovation in small municipal agencies: Policing in a post-9/11 world. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 20, 263-288.

69.

Stacy

Dayton

(1997). The underfederalization of crime. Journal of Law and Public Policy, 6, 247-324.

70.

Stewart

D. M.

Morris

R. G.

(2009). A new era of policing? An examination of Texas police chiefs’ perceptions of homeland security. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 20, 290-309.

71.

Stuntz

W. J.

(2002). Local policing after the terror. The Yale Law Journal, 111, 2137-2194.

72.

Tabachnick

B. G.

Fidell

L. S.

(2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

73.

Task Force on the Federalization of Criminal Law. (1998). The federalization of criminal law. Washington, DC: American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section.

74.

Taylor

S. R.

Rowe

A. M.

Lewis

B. M.

(1999, Summer). Consequence management: In need of a timeout. Joint Force Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/1422.pdf

75.

TDEx works even harder to keep your data secure. (2007, June). TDEx express. Retrieved October 5, 2008, from http://www.appriss.com/sitedocs/TDEx_06-2007.pdf

76.

Texas Department of Public Safety. (n.d.). Texas data exchange (TDEx). Retrieved October 5, 2008, from http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/pages/texasdataexchange.htm

77.

Thacher

(2005). The local role in homeland security. Law & Society Review, 39(3), 635-676.

78.

Thomas

(2010, July 6). Department of Justice files lawsuit challenging Arizona immigration law. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/WN/immigration-justice-department-files-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-law/story?id=11096347

79.

Tillman

(2007, July 17). More communities use local police to enforce US immigration law. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0717/p01s05-ussc.html?page=1

80.

Vaughn

M. S.

(1993). Listening to the experts: A national study of correctional administrators’ responses to prison overcrowding. Criminal Justice Review, 18, 12-25.

81.

Walker

(2006). Sense and nonsense about crime and drugs (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

82.

Webb

D. W. D.

(2007). The efficacy of the use of competency based frameworks to improve police performance (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.

83.

Weisheit

Well

Falcone

(1995). Community policing in small town and rural America. Crime and Delinquency, 40, 549-567.

84.

Worrall

J. L.

(2001). Addicted to the drug war: The role of civil asset forfeiture as a budgetary necessity in contemporary law enforcement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 171-187.