Citation

Pelfrey WV. Crim. Justice Policy Rev. 2009; 20(3): 261-273.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0887403408330637

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As an artifact of the war on terror, local law enforcement agencies have been asked to serve as the "eyes and ears" of federal intelligence agencies. The federal Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) has assembled a set of guidelines to assist agencies in terrorism prevention and weapons of mass destruction identification. However, there is a dearth of metrics and measurement tools available to assess preparedness. Based on ODP guidelines, a methodology to tap preparedness levels is defined. Additionally, preliminary findings from an assessment of a large law enforcement agency are presented. Application of this methodology will enhance the preparedness of local agencies by identifying areas of strength and those areas which require attention. Once these deficit areas are defined, policy makers can define appropriate training and programmatic changes.