Terrorism & Policing: Enhancing Daily Policing for Crime Management

This essay explores the role of policing in addressing terrorism, arguing that it should be treated as a conventional crime rather than through a 'war on terror' approach. It defines policing as the maintenance of societal order through established rules and regulations, highlighting key characteristics such as authorization, hierarchy, and a partly military structure. The essay categorizes policing into local, specialist capabilities, workforce, and digital approaches, also discussing legal, service, and watchman styles of policing. It examines the changes in policing systems due to technological advancements and new perspectives, focusing on the traditional model's emphasis on law enforcement, increased police presence, and rapid response times. The essay contrasts the handling of general crimes with the specialized approaches needed for terrorism, noting the importance of crime analysis and intelligence gathering. It concludes by emphasizing the necessity of specialized agencies alongside general policing to effectively address terrorism at both national and international levels, providing an example of effective policing in a crisis situation.

Terrorism & Policing
“Terrorism is crime like any other and should be addressed by improving the daily
routines of policing instead of a ‘war on terror’”

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Policing is defined as the processes involved in maintenance of societal order and public accord,
through which, the basic rules of conduct and regulations are recognized, followed, maintained,
and imposed in state, market, family, and public. It is accomplished by community police as well
as various types of persons and institutions. Thus, in short, policing can be explained as
‘premeditated act concerning the vigilant exercise of administration that results in application
and imposition of rules and regulations; the advocacy of law and order; and the promise of
security and protection.’ The characteristics of policing related departments or organizations
include being authorized, being hierarchical, being partly military, being monopolist, and
administering or authorizing street-level arrangements. These properties provide an outlook on
the policing along with the problems occurring in managing policing related organizations. The
authorized characteristic of policing bureaus or departments can be explained by the five basic
conventions, on which, the design and administration of policing agencies depends. These are
division of work, hierarchy of power, rules, impersonal relations, and selection or promotion
based on proficiency. Some of the advantages associated with the characteristics include
systematic distribution of work among all, proper functioning of the departments, thorough
checking and regulation of the jobs done, low chances of corruption, and appropriate guidance
for different issues (Anu.edu.au. ,2019).
Division of work or labor is defined as the system where all of the responsibilities or works are
divided into different workers and offices with specialized personnel having expertise and
efficiency for a particular job. In policing system, the main divisions generally include patrol,
crime branch, and management. The hierarchy of power (also called as chain of command) in
policing describes the system in which every employee has a controller or administrator having
more power than his/her underling. Rules are important in operating policing system as they

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indicate the methods of jobs to be performed and responsibilities allocated in each job. Policing
agencies have written records regarding the rules to be followed and procedures of different
kinds of functions performed such as standardized dress code, jobs allocated to various divisions,
and exercising strict actions or use advanced group of forces according to the need of the time.
Impersonal relations in policing indicate towards making official decisions equitably without
involving any sentiments. Policing system also follows selection or promotion based on
proficiency, expertise, and other qualities to make sure that only the qualified people are working
in it (Eprints.lincoln.ac.uk., 2019).
The partly military aspect of policing can be explained by the way it works, which include the
passing of orders by superiors, the focus on discipline, the hierarchical structure, coding used for
communicating, the dress code, and authoritative and controlling nature of the system. The
monopolist systems are the ones having no competition, thus, resulting in no options for the
people, that is, either people will use the service or product or stay without it. Policing implies to
the same monopolist system, hence, one has to report any crime to their regional police as they
have no other options to consider. The policing agencies are characterized as administration or
authorization of street-level managements as they have same properties common to other
organizations such as public offices, schools, legal bodies, shelters, and municipal offices (Anon,
2019).
Policing can be generally categorized into four categories, which are local, specialist capabilities,
work force, and digital. Local policing is the one that works on building up an intense and
modern approach or understanding to determine the requirements of public for guarding
individuals. As public turns out to be progressively assorted and complicated this is one of the
main steps taken to ensure community protection. To accomplish this, resources and investment

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are granted to neighborhood policing through the services of formally dressed cops, public
engagement officers, and public support agents for helping in deriving solution of local issues,
handling non-social or hostile behavior, and developing reliance as well as maintain justice
among public. The risk and fear from increasing virtual felony, terrorism, and planned crimes
will keep on developing and evolving over time into new and unimaginable structures. To cope
up with this, the special capabilities category of policing mainly concentrates on overall safety
and security of individuals, institutions or groups, and public via building new law authorization
capacities and making sure that their individuals are prepared and armed to manage with the
upcoming new and evolving dangers (Npcc.police.uk., 2019).
In the policing services of workforce category, the administration works according to the kind of
individual. This category is represented by a proficient force furnished with the abilities and
qualities essential for policing in the current century. Additionally, it is clear that numerous
people own varied aspirations related to career, work, and needs. This has to be considered with
the workforce category, supporting police education and expert improvement systems that are
created to guarantee that the large numbers of individuals, who are equipped with the correct
skillfulness, nature, and potential, practices and qualities to convey the policing vision, are
attracted towards police career. The digital policing type is the result of ongoing technological
developments throughout the world, thus, playing an important or main role in all areas of
people’s life. Policing must be up-to-date, adaptive, and welcoming the new digital world which
is full of unexpected dangers (Ric-zai-inc.com, 2019).
The style of policing is dependent upon the type of public being handled. The communities that
are highly legitimate need no amenities and equal punishments are given to everyone. A
significant share of public wants officers to operate with high vigilance whereas others expect

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them to use a blend of law and vigilance for different operations. Based on style, policing can be
categorized as legal, service, and watchman. The policing agencies functioning under legal style
act strictly according to law. The policing people behave in a very expert manner. Native contact
happens in an official and nonpartisan process, applying the law to everybody in all cases.
Methods are by the law book with practically no amenities since residents in a public belonging
to this style of policing anticipate discretion of police as not ethical. Divisions utilizing this style
will in general have superior rates regarding work obligations frequently showed in imprison and
ticketing rates. Basic leadership will usually happen starting from the top to bottom with little
contribution from subordinates. The policing agencies working under watchman style
concentrates on keeping law and order. This style is commonly followed in highly populated
groups that make a great deal of calls seeking police help. Small and less intense crimes such as
breaking traffic rules and others are usually avoided or solved on the spot. All the policing
agencies randomly represent watchman style but in some of the agencies it is the main way to
administer things. Policing of service style are expected to be present in the upper as well as
middle class public societies. Service policing divisions give great importance to public opinion
and community relations. This style is oriented towards giving less focus on small issues and
emphasize on crimes that defy an individual’s confidentiality (for example, housebreak and
theft). The police people usually imprison the wrong only when required. The force in this style
tends to protect public from intruders, while ensuring the wellbeing of people within certain
borderline. These types of divisions operate with plenty of monetary resources and modern
technological equipment due to the good fiscal conditions of the populace (Cebcp.org., 2019).
Recent years have witnessed important changes in belief system as well as practices related to
policing systems of different regions. The advancement of technology, new prospects on

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policing, and thorough assessment of existing practices are some of the factors responsible for
the ongoing changes in policing systems. As discussed earlier, a typical policing model consists
of enforcing laws and regulations in a wide ranging and reactive manner through utilization of
police and associated resources. Further, it also includes the increase in number of police officers
and their expanding reaches, which in turn, enhances their capability of detecting crimes and
imprison the wrong people or criminals. The typical policing model also utilizes the
unintentional and casual motorized patrols to produce alertness and awareness among public
regarding “omnipresence” of police which results in discouragement of crimes in public areas.
The enabling of speedy responses to calls is a must in policing services as it is capable of
preventing an about to happen crime as well as increase the probability of arresting and
imprisoning criminals. Another important task is to take a follow up from detectives regarding
the on-going investigations for augmenting the solvability of crimes, which in turn, results in
gaining trusts, supports, and beliefs of general public on policing departments. The
abovementioned factors play a major and effective role in controlling of general crimes as well
as terrorist activities up to an extent (Anon, 2019).
In case of general crimes, the policing system works with public and obtains proofs from other
resources present within certain boundaries to prevent criminal activities as well as solve crimes.
In common offenses, the acts of police forces, such as the general reactive arrest policies, to
discourage and penalize the specific convict prevent general public from committing minor or
major crimes. It is also noticed that a more effective control on crimes and related actions in
general policing can be achieved by concentrating on certain specific strategies of the police
which are customized set of instructions meant for solving problems caused due to criminals and
their actions. An important policy in general policing is the crime analysis policy which is based

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on providing information to citizens and alerting them for future. Thus, different crime analysts
offer crime related statistical data to public groups, neighborhoods, various institutions and
organizations, businesses, and others, to achieve the objective of communicating information
related to policing system to the general citizens. The main functions of crime analyst include
identification and specification of the current problem, data analysis to obtain main causes of the
occurring problem, development of model responses (which can be implemented at an
appropriate place on an appropriate time), and assessment of the impact of the model responses
on the particular problem. Apart from this, usually in general cases, the police forces have the
systematic ideas of the areas of the city where crimes are likely to happen, and hence, they
implant resources and responses in those areas as well as surroundings (Ncjrs.gov., 2019).
For instance, according to an article published on the website of National Police Foundation
(NPF) by Professor John D. Cohen (Rutgers University), on 14th June 2017, a single man with a
gun fired bullets openly on a team of Congressmen who were involved in practicing a baseball
game in Washington that was to be held in the near future. This resulted in six wounded people
(four team members and two police officers) and among them, one was wounded critically. The
gun bearer was said to be upset with the election of President Trump and was stopped and killed
by Capitol Hill police officers. Later on he was identified with the help of law enforcement
authorities. Fortunately no one was killed apart from the shooter due to the alertness of the police
department otherwise this incident would have caused deaths of many team members. This is an
example of the action of policing system in a general case (Policehumanrightsresources.org.,
2019).
The various countries of the world mostly own special agencies apart from the policing system to
deal with and unravel the terrorism and associated activities at national as well as international

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level. All independent nations have created and developed expert and specialized agencies for
the enquiry and collection of domestic intelligence regarding the potentially vicious subversion.
The policing system against terrorism (also called as counterterrorism) is not only about under
cover intelligence information collecting and prevention but more than this. It is able to take a
wide range of different forms of activities such as determination and detection of covert agent or
information, disruption of maneuver, analysis of risks involved, hardening of the target,
mobilization of public, safety of people and infrastructure, assistance during emergencies such as
attacks, maintenance of order, rules, and regulations during or after attacks, improvement in the
things that are damaged, and proper investigation of criminal incidents (Nlc.org., 2019).
There are six factors affecting the functioning of the general police agencies which are
undertaking the charge of covert counterterrorism. These include the occurrence of terrorism
(locally or nationally), the level of government at which policing is organized or working
(national or state), the range of policing agencies (local or national or international), the time
duration on which particular area or region is exposed to terrorism, the intellectual or cultural
tolerance level of the political dissent, and accessibility to various resources (new or old). The
policing system can help fight terrorism and contribute to covert counterterrorism in a lot of
ways, such as:
 Observation and smart analysis of all kinds of on-going activities in an area
 Contacting people during the routine patrolling and law enforcement
 Knowledge or expertise to analyze the patterns indicating terrorist activities or strategies
related to the terrorist activities
 Formation of partnerships with public or communities of interest as well as wide range of
local businesses

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 Utilization of local knowledge to evaluate the validity of intelligence information
generated by various experts or specialized counterterrorism divisions
 Contribution of local expertise or knowledge in an undercover surveillance and
penetration
 Befriending or developing informers via using power and authority over regional
criminals
The abovementioned pointers are the advantages related to the use of policing systems
against terrorism. Similarly, there are cons related to the use of general policing systems
against terrorism, such as, withdrawing of valuable and scarce resources from customary
actions of serving and protecting, diversion of local talented police and experts from their
regular duties, discouragement of the authenticity of local police forces by indulging them
with undercover operations, and converting the thinking or mind-set of policing people by
making them to view the public as suspects or as the client that will help them with watching
and finding suspects. Overall it can be concluded that policing departments or agencies
having the general responsibilities of maintaining rules and regulations, ensuring the
following of orders, and crime prevention, are capable of contributing more to
counterterrorism by concentrating on their standard functions rather than developing specific,
undercover, and counterterrorism capabilities. The bonding or relationships built over time
between the policing department agents and the public or communities they serve are very
important for fighting against terrorism and related problems. The residents of an area who
have strong faith in the local police officers are more likely to share information that can play
a key role in preventing any kind of violence. Altogether, the above mentioned factors prove
law enforcement and regular bonding with the public as a combined problem solving

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activities leading to trust among public and police as well as enhanced public safety
(Sagepub.com., 2019).
For quoting the example of policing against terrorism, The Salduz case is one of the most
appropriate cases. According to a paper titled Salduz v. Turkey, that was published on the
website of Child Rights International Network (CRIN), in the year 2008, Salduz (who was 17
years old at that time) was taken into custody by anti-terrorism police based on the notion of
having participated in an illegal protest and supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK
(considered as terrorist organization in Turkey and several countries). During the
interrogation, he acknowledged to the alleged offences in front of the public prosecutor and
the judge. He filed a complaint regarding the violation of his defense rights and lawyer
access denial to European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Earlier he was not allowed to
hire any lawyer but later on he was permitted to hire a lawyer and was sentenced on the
suspected facts (Solgps.alberta.ca., 2019).
The current century is witnessing change in criminal activities, secure environment, and
generation of unexpected issues and threats such as terrorism, large scale movements of
people, dangers of diseases and dislodgment, states facing political tensions, and many more.
Globally, the new challenges or problems faced by policing systems against modern era
terrorism include prevention of terrorism on national as well as international level; control of
people arriving from other regions due to poverty, bloodshed, and changing weather;
maintaining harmony in different states; and effective reply to new technological and
financial crimes. Thus, in this period of ambiguity a new model of policing system is
required for community police to preserve their guidance role in the condition of safety and
crime control (Legal Beagle., 2019).

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For example, let’s take the 2001 terrorist attacks or 9/11 on World Trade Centre (WTO) of
U.S. and on other regions such as London, Madrid, and Bali, that introduced people to the
occurrence of new kind of attacks, where, either the terrorism wasn’t known (Madrid) or was
localized (U.S., London). This marked the requirement of changes in security systems,
policing systems, and other departments of the places. For instance, since 2001 in Australia,
the new legislation has deeply augmented the range, size, role, and functions of the national
agency Australian Federal Police (AFP), by providing them extensive new authorities as well
as increasing and synchronizing the anti-terrorist operations of the different states as well as
territory police which are in charge for the most of the law enforcement related to criminals.
All community policing divisions in the country now own anti-terrorism branches and they
regularly take part in the National Counter-Terrorism Committee as well as its various
planning and processes. Thus, the policing system against terrorism has become more
powerful, concentrated on prevention and response to emergencies, and more widespread
with the allotted tasks divided among many different public or private agencies (National
Institute of Justice., 2019).
The world is flooded with knowledge about fear mongering. Its greater part is good for
nothing theory, a discussion blocked between two Arabs about how they'd love to explode
London Bridge. The issue, obviously, is the means by which to recognize inert gap and genuine
assault arranging. There is no science engaged with this, yet there are evident rules. Are the
general population known to be related with radical Islamists? Do they have the expectation and
ability to direct such an assault? Were an explicit subtleties referenced in the discussion that can
be checked? Is there other knowledge to help the plot talked about in the discussion? The issue is
that what shows up very evident in the telling is substantially more uncertain actually. At some

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random point, the legislature could sensibly raise the alarm level in the event that it wished. That
it doesn't raise it all the more much of the time is attached to three things. In the first place, the
insight is every now and again too vague to even consider acting on. Second, raising the alarm
level cautions individuals without extremely giving them any feeling of what to do about it.
Third, it can trade off the wellsprings of its insight. The present cautioning is an ideal case of the
issue. We don't recognize what knowledge the U.S. government got that incited the notice, and I
presume that general society portrayals of the knowledge don't uncover everything that the
administration knows. We do realize that a German resident was captured in Afghanistan in July
and has supposedly given data with respect to this danger, however there are likely different
sources adding to the notice, since the U.S. government considered the knowledge adequate to
cause concern. The Obama organization spilled on Saturday that it may issue the notice, and to
be sure it did. The legislature did not prescribe that Americans not make a trip to Europe. That
would have influenced the economy and chafed Europeans. Leaving the travel industry aside,
since the travel industry season is to a great extent more than, a ton of business is executed by
Americans in Europe. The administration basically proposed carefulness. Shy of notwithstanding
travel, there was nothing viable the administration could do. So it moved the weight to voyagers
(Crimesolutions.gov., 2019). In the event that no assault happens, nothing is lost. On the off
chance that an assault happens, the administration can point to the notice and the exhortation.
Those hurt or executed would not have been cautious. I don't intend to disparage the U.S.
government on this. Having gotten the knowledge it can caution the general population or not.
The general population has a privilege to know, and the legislature is bound by law and official
request to give danger data. In any case, the reason that its recommendation is so obscure is that
there is no better counsel to give. The administration isn't so much disavowing the circumstance