Miami Police - New Strategy?

[muskrat89]

Miami I know, but something "new" nonetheless.....

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/28/D8E5RPBO5.html

Miami Police Take New Tack Against Terror
Nov 28 9:28 PM US/Eastern
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By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI

Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.

Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.

"This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there," Fernandez said.

The operations will keep terrorists off guard, Fernandez said. He said al-Qaida and other terrorist groups plot attacks by putting places under surveillance and watching for flaws and patterns in security.

Police Chief John Timoney said there was no specific, credible threat of an imminent terror attack in Miami. But he said the city has repeatedly been mentioned in intelligence reports as a potential target.

Timoney also noted that 14 of the 19 hijackers who took part in the Sept. 11 attacks lived in South Florida at various times and that other alleged terror cells have operated in the area.

Both uniformed and plainclothes police will ride buses and trains, while others will conduct longer-term surveillance operations.

"People are definitely going to notice it," Fernandez said. "We want that shock. We want that awe. But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears."

Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU of Florida, said the Miami initiative appears aimed at ensuring that people's rights are not violated.

"What we're dealing with is officers on street patrol, which is more effective and more consistent with the Constitution," Simon said. "We'll have to see how it is implemented."

Mary Ann Viverette, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said the Miami program is similar to those used for years during the holiday season to deter criminals at busy places such as shopping malls.

"You want to make your presence known and that's a great way to do it," said Viverette, police chief in Gaithersburg, Md. "We want people to feel they can go about their normal course of business, but we want them to be aware."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[jwsteele]

That has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I have heard in a while.  What a silly waste of resources!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but the police are for law enforcement not counter terrorism.  The under cover officers on busses sounds reasonable, but randomly surrounding a bank or a hotel for no reason whatsoever is absurd.  It will just stir everybody into a frenzy.  What would the public think if the RCMP ERT just randomly stormed the Chateau Laurier to hand out flyers.  It's just a bizarre plan.  Maybe JTF2 should adopt this plan and "breach, bang, and clear" every bank in the downtown Ottawa area just to let terrorists know they're out there.  What a goofy idea.

 

[muskrat89]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the police are for law enforcement not counter terrorism.

Actually, I can't speak for Canadian cities, but I think most major US cities have counter-terror cells/detachments/people in their Departments

 

[jwsteele]

Yes, I recognize that most major cities have counter terrorism units within their police departments but the article was talking about utilizing the entire force including just regular patrol officers.  Also, I don't think using an elite counter terrorism unit to handout flyers is the best way that resource can be directed.

 

[MPIKE]

Yes, I recognize that most major cities have counter terrorism units within their police departments but the article was talking about utilizing the entire force including just regular patrol officers.  Also, I don't think using an elite counter terrorism unit to handout flyers is the best way that resource can be directed.

Correct me if I'm wrong

okay i will..

Here we go again watching episodes of E-Ring and 24.  The article does not mention using ETF-types handing out leaflets as you misquote.  This is a proactive approach taken by an organization who is doing what any post 9/11 city is doing and that is raising public awareness/readiness and utilizing all assets available to them.  Perhaps (and i'll suggest it) this maybe another great opportunity to blitz an area plagued with other problems.?

Counter terrorism isn't all door kicks and flashbangs.  It starts with the frontline and those who are on the ground.
Google intelligence-led and maybe you will appreciate this progressive plan.  Good on them.. Now do we bother debating if this would be even tried here?

here is excerpt from the RCMP website (much to my chagrin and attempt at humour   it pretty much says it all)

ntelligence-led policing is a term that has only begun to gain currency in the last few years. For this reason, it lacks a single, overarching definition. Most would agree, however, that at its most fundamental, intelligence-led policing involves the collection and analysis of information to produce an intelligence end product designed to inform police decision-making at both the tactical and strategic levels. It is a model of policing in which intelligence serves as a guide to operations, rather than the reverse. It is innovative and, by some standards, even radical, but it is predicated on the notion that a principal task of the police is to prevent and detect crime rather than simply to react to it.

We are facing increasing obstacles in policing. Unstoppable economic, social and political forces are having a profound effect, not only upon the world in which we function but also upon the manner in which each and every one of us does our job. And while we may be able to take some comfort from the fact that criminals do not change over time and continue to be motivated essentially by greed, the resources and opportunities available to them have increased exponentially along with the magnitude of their potential profits. Police forces are now dealing with crime that would be unrecognisable to the police officers of a generation ago and must do so with a rapidly shrinking resource base. The old models of policing no longer apply. We can no longer afford simply to react to each new situation, nor can we rely upon our traditional notions of crime and criminal behaviour. Intelligence-led policing may hold the key to our survival.

Whatever form it takes, intelligence-led policing requires commitment. Police managers must be prepared to stand away from traditional police philosophies and methodologies; to believe that operations can and should be driven by intelligence; to act rather than to react. They must be prepared to have faith in the intelligence process and in the judgements and recommendations of their intelligence staff. It is may be a difficult, even painful step, but it is a necessary one.

(Originally published in a slightly different form in: Smith, Angus, ed. Intelligence-Led Policing: International Perspectives on Policing in the 21st Century, Lawrenceville, New Jersey: International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts, 1998.)

That has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I have heard in a while.  What a silly waste of resources! 

still silly?

 

[a_majoor]

New York City reversed a decades long crime wave through similar tactics directed against known and suspected criminal elements. Although there are a lot of New York cops, once people began to see uniformed officers patrolling their neighbourhoods and cracking down on petty street crime (and not doing the "drive by patrols of times past), they began reaching out to the officers and offering help in the form of tips (intelligence).

The short answer is the NYPD was conducting a clear and hold operation burough by burough, and so came out the winners. The police in Miami are using similar ideas to disrupt potential terrorist activity and encourage the population to join forces with them. How well they do is worth watching though.