Local Fire/Law Enforcement Partnerships

Local Fire/Law Enforcement Partnerships

Assignment 9c: Case

Local Fire/Law Enforcement Partnerships Local Fire/Law Enforcement Partnerships: Terrorism

How does the local law enforcer handle a case of suspected terrorism?

Terrorism has become a major cause of concern for almost all the countries. The authorities of the countries have to ensure that they provide appropriate and effective securities to the citizens of the country. In United States, the authorities have initiated state and national emergency management plans which all the states of U.S follow. San Francisco Bay Area has initiated a Regional Emergency Plan (RECP) which is designed as per the national and state emergency management plans. To cater to the needs of the citizens and the management in the times of need, like disasters, terrorism, or any other emergency at the state or provincial level a Regional Emergency Coordination Plan, was created to guide the measures to respond to the events of natural disaster or the acts of terrorism. It was created in recognition of the citizens at high risk or those in the special scenarios who need assistance in the times of need.

There are different subsidiaries to it that work to provide support and assistance at all levels and in every kind of situation (www.sfdem.org). There are many times in which the act of terrorism seem like merely incidents, which is the reason why the authorities need to do proper investigation of the scenes. The local law enforcer is required to visit such incident sites, collect evidences and investigate the matter thoroughly, before forwarding it to the higher authorities (in case of any need). Assuming such incident happens in the bay area of San Francisco that is suspected to be an act of terrorism, then it is the responsibility of the law enforcement officer to visit the site of incident and take the statements of witnesses available on the site, collect evidences and send them to forensics for testing and further investigation and reports his findings to the superior. After this, the case will be handled as per the report of the investigation, if there really is any evidence that the incident was cause by the terrorist outside the region / country than the Federal Bureau of Investigation needs to intervene and the investigation would then be handled by FBI. Similarly, if the incident was cause by the elements that do not exist within the jurisdiction of the local or state law enforcement agencies then the FBI is the one to take the lead role in the investigation as they have more power and control and their authority extends to the national and international boundaries (Richards's et.al, 2006).

San Francisco Plan: What is the function of Terrorism Liaison Officer?

In the reporting of terrorism, the terrorism liaison officer plays an important role in its prevention, notification of the acts of terrorism and reporting any such incident or information which may be a lead to any terrorist activity in future. The terrorism liaison officer act as the informants of the law making bodies and ...