Critical Releases in Homeland Security: October 2, 2013

From the thesis abstract: "As threats against the United States (U.S.) evolved over time, so did the strategy of the United States Border Patrol (USBP) in an effort to keep unlawful persons from crossing into the U.S. at locations other than at designated ports of entry. This thesis analyzes the three strategies that the USBP developed since their inception in 1924. It reviews the themes of the three strategies and identifies their variations as the environment along the southwest border and the USBP as an organization changed over time. In order to assess the environment along the southwest border, the author examined the following variables: Political, Military, Economic, Social, Infrastructure, and Information (PMESII). In order to assess the USBP, the author analyzed the following variables: Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, and Facilities (DOTMLPF). The use of these two methods of analysis throughout the three time frames during which each strategy was implemented, assisted to provide a similar research and comparison basis for each strategy."

"Following April 2012 media reports regarding the death of an undocumented immigrant while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in May 2010, Senator Robert Menendez and 15 members of Congress requested that we review the use of force within CBP. We reviewed allegations of the use of excessive force by CBP employees and determined what reforms CBP has implemented. We also examined what effect adding more agents and officers to the workforce has had on training and professionalism. […] CBP has taken several steps to address the number of use of force incidents involving CBP employees and to ensure that agents and officers use force only when necessary and reasonable. All CBP law enforcement agents and officers are required to follow the same use of force policy and standards and complete the same use of force training. CBP tracks all use of force incidents and recently completed an internal review of use of force issues. However, more can be done. The CBP Office of Training and Development Use of Force Policy Division should incorporate additional assault data into its analysis of use of force incidents and formalize and expand its field audit program. CBP should continue to expand the use of scenario-based training and assess new technologies to support agents and officers. We are making three recommendations. CBP should work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to implement a method to identify excessive force allegations in its case management system, develop processes to incorporate information regarding assaults on agents that do not result in the use of force into its analysis of use of force incidents, and evaluate and act upon field audit results. The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) will modify its case management system to identify in greater detail incidents involving excessive use of force allegations."

"Youth gang membership is a serious and persistent problem in the United States. One in three local law enforcement agencies report youth gang problems in their jurisdictions. One in four high school freshmen report gangs in their schools. Limited resources at the national, state, tribal and local levels make it more important than ever that we make full use of the best available evidence and clearly demonstrate the benefit of strategies to prevent gang-joining. In acknowledgment of these realities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) formed a partnership to publish this book. It is critical that those who make decisions about resources -- as well as those who work directly with youth, like teachers and police officers, community services providers and emergency department physicians -- understand what the research evidence shows about how to prevent kids from joining gangs. The NIJ-CDC partnership drew on each agency's distinctive strengths: NIJ's commitment to enhancing justice and increasing public safety is matched by CDC's dedication to health promotion and prevention of violence, injury and disability. By combining perspectives, lessons and evidence from public safety and public health, NIJ and CDC provide new insights into the complex problems of gangs and gang membership. Public health and public safety workers who respond to gang problems know that after-the-fact efforts are not enough. An emergency department doctor who treats gang-related gunshot wounds or a police officer who must tell a mother that her son has been killed in a drive-by shooting are likely to stress the need for prevention -- and the complementary roles that public health and law enforcement must play -- in stopping violence before it starts. Given our shared commitment to informing policy and practice with the best available evidence of what works, CDC and NIJ brought together some of the nation's top public health and criminal justice researchers to present core principles for gang-membership prevention."

From the Executive Summary: "More than 250 people have been killed in the United States during what has been classified as active shooter and mass casualty incidents (AS/MCIs) since the Columbine High School shootings in 1999. AS/MCIs involve one or more suspects who participate in an ongoing, random or systematic shooting spree, demonstrating the intent to harm others with the objective of mass murder. It has become evident that these events may take place in any community impacting fire and police departments, regardless of their size or capacity. Local jurisdictions must build sufficient public safety resources to handle AS/MCI scenarios. Local fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and law enforcement (LE) must have common tactics, communications capabilities and terminology to have seamless, effective operations. They should also establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for these very volatile and dangerous situations. The goal is to plan, prepare and respond in a manner that will save the maximum number of lives possible."