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I had the privilege of recently attending a two-day seminar on Intelligence Led Policing (ILP). Law enforcement officials and academics educated participants on the tenets of ILP and how to better equip officers to begin to use ILP in their police departments. Regardless of what it’s called – be it ILP, smart policing or predictive analytics – the best practice comes down to this: Police gather information, they evaluate and analyze that information, and they create a threat assessment. That information and resulting analysis drive the agency’s strategy and its actions.

For better or worse, social media is the billboard of our lives in today’s digital world. Recent news stories detailing how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was monitoring media outlets, news sites, and other social networking platforms have raised some eyebrows, but it would be completely irresponsible for DHS, intelligence, or law enforcement authorities to ignore these valuable resources and the information and insights they can provide.

By Seth Stodder
This week, the Supreme Court dipped its toes into the muddy waters of how modern surveillance technologies – in this case, GPS tracking – fit within the 200-year-old confines of the Fourth Amendment. In United States v. Jones, the Court ruled that the DC Police and the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment when they placed a GPS tracker on a Jeep Cherokee driven by criminal suspect Antoine Jones, and then tracked it for 28 days – all without a valid search warrant.

Last week, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy issued the National Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy. Unless you knew it was coming and happened to be keeping an eye peeled for it, the document may well have escaped notice—with its release on a Friday, in the heat of primary season, and in the immediate lead-up to the President’s State of the Union Address. This is something of a shame because the plan contains some welcome elements that, if well executed, could make a positive contribution to the field.

I just worked my way through multiple social media feeds from federal law enforcement and homeland security agencies. I wanted to stick a paper clip in my eye. The lack of thought put into the posts and clear lack of interest in engaging community members is obvious. The continuous desire on the part of government agencies to “control the message” is self-defeating. Guys: You’re not controlling any message.

The makers of Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) have reported significant increases in sales following the Occupy Movement’s first phase of activity last year. Some, I suspect, think they’re buying a magic crowd management weapon. Yet, the best deterrent to truly criminal behavior is to identify criminals, such as those committing or inciting violence, gathering evidence against them, and successfully arresting and prosecuting them.

Recently, it was reported that members of Mexican Crime Cartels illegally entered five different truck yards in northern Mexico by threatening security officers. These criminals did not steal cash or cargo. Instead, they compromised sensitive corporate information – routing information for U.S.-bound commercial truck shipments. Criminal organizations the world over, especially along the land border of Mexico and the United States, use commercial trucks to move contraband. Because of the huge amount of trade that crosses our borders and the limited number of personnel to inspect and process this trade, two methods were created to ease the cargo delays and help the CBP inspectors target suspect trucks.

In late October, I had the privilege of interviewing former NYPD and Boston Police Commissioner and LAPD Police Chief Bill Bratton. Unlike a number of people in the public eye, he actually does his homework and thinks before he speaks. Our interview touched on a range of issues – the lessons not learned after 9/11; the state of information sharing with local law enforcement agencies; and how the country’s fiscal climate will impact the overall homeland mission.

It was recently reported that Congress is launching an investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration, following claims that the agency helped drug cartels launder money – an operation some in Congress say bears striking resemblance to the failed “Fast and Furious” anti-gunrunning probe. While most of America is appalled at the “Fast and Furious” operation, myself included, money laundering investigations are a completely different, proven and accepted investigative technique when conducted properly.

The LAPD operation to clear the park in City Hall was noteworthy for its change in style and was the correct conclusion to what has been a policing operation characterized by engagement and discretion by the police. This and other examples of policing Occupy Protests must be examined closely by the departments that will host National Significant Security Events next year, extracting the lessons that will apply to certain sections of the protest community, and creating effective plans for the those truly violent demonstrators who were patently absent from Occupy LA.

The newest threat to police from hardline protestors is “doxing” – the photographing of police and publishing their personal details, and sometimes that of their families, to the Internet. This tactic has been used to attempt to intimidate officers during events with protestors calling out officers’ names as they film and telling them they will be “doxed.” This tactic is an import from the hardline protest movements in Britain and should be of significant concern to police at all levels of operations and command, although it does have a very simple remedy.

The treatment of protestors as the enemy at National Significant Security Events is the most counter-productive action law enforcement could think of. If one is running a policing effort during a NSSE, surely the principal information tool during the final hours before an event and during that event is the population itself. However, by treating all protestors as potential terrorists and critical threats, police significantly reduce the likelihood that protestors will “see something, say something,” because the police have chosen a confrontational relationship rather than a collaborative one.

During testimony on Capitol Hill, Chairman Issa gets into a tense exchange with Secretary Napolitano on what she knew and when she knew it regarding Operation Fast and Furious.

The phrase “Occupy Movement” has taken over from Occupy Wall Street as the umbrella term for all protest groups. This shift captures not only the geographic differences, but the fact that each Occupy has its own participants, agendas and therefore must be understood as a separate entity. The Occupy movement is looking to the Arab Spring as inspiration. As time drags on, it is likely there will be increased frustration which will lead some to look for more effective or entertaining tactics. The groups with more violent intent will seek to aggravate the police into reacting violently against not only them but the whole crowd, converting far more people to be willing to fight with the police.

Occupy Wall Street is not just a protest. It’s an intelligence tool for protest organizers the world over. Protesters inspired by the growing Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City are spreading throughout the United States and the world to challenge the current business and governmental paradigm. That is why corporate leaders and their security teams must be aware of the tactics, information, capabilities and equipment protesters are using. Corporations must not underestimate the resolve of the protesters and their efforts to bring a negative view to the corporate brand name.

Today, we released an issue brief on Mexico and the triple challenge of crime, terrorist tactics, and narco-insurgency. The issue brief is released in conjunction with a Homeland Security Policy Institute/U.S. Army War College event, “The Hybrid Threat: Crime, Terrorism and Insurgency in Mexico” to be held today at 2pm.

By Ken Blackstone
In 1973, Judge John C. Beatty, Jr. was the first to order the use of the polygraph in the management of convicted sexual offenders. Today, the number of registered sex offenders in the U.S. and its territories exceeds half a million and they are all under some form of management. Scientifically based studies have concluded that the carefully administered, “forensic” polygraph exam, conducted properly and optimally by a qualified examiner, is 89 to 92 percent accurate. However, when any reduction from the disciplined rigors of forensic polygraph examination occurs, the reliability of the results can and must be called into question.

Like a lot of Americans, I have been watching the Occupy Wall Street drama over the past couple of weeks. Many of these Wall Street folks look like well-intentioned people exercising their first amendment rights. Others look like the kinds of counterculture “revolutionary” people who the law enforcement community was forced to deal with back in the 60s and 70s. Let’s make no mistake about it – underneath some of this protest behavior there will be a small number of violent individuals looking for an opportunity or a reason to act out.

Despite the fact that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, it became accepted wisdom that the weaving together of counterterrorism efforts at the local, state, and federal levels is critical, a decade later, there is a consensus among the police intelligence commanders for the fifty-six largest American cities that the nation lacks an adequate understanding of the counterterrorism intelligence enterprise. This was a finding in our just-released research brief — “Counterterrorism Intelligence: Law Enforcement Perspectives.”

The Bay Area Transit Police, amusingly known as BART, show that law enforcement still doesn’t understand the value — and challenges — of social media. The police force reacted to planned flash mobs by shutting down cell phone service in the BART stations. Hey, if you can’t talk to one another, how are you going to organize, right? Thank God BART wasn’t around when the Founding Fathers were trying to hammer out the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps the transit agency would have drummed the unruly bastards out of Philadelphia before they could dream up the First Amendment.