F B I Law Enforcement Bulletin

United States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington, DC 20535-0001

Robert S. Mueller III
Director
Contributors’ opinions and statements should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI for any policy, program, or service.

The attorney general has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law. Use of funds for printing this periodical has been approved by the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (ISSN-0014-5688) is published monthly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20535-0001. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Madison Building, Room 209, Quantico, VA 22135.

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Send article submissions to Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Madison Building, Room 209, Quantico, VA 22135.

Writing a Winning Grant Proposal
By Jon M. Shane
By following some basic principles, agencies can improve their prospects for obtaining much-needed funds.

Police Response to Anonymous Emergency Calls
By Michael L. Ciminelli
Given the large number of anonymous emergency calls received by the police, it is critical that law enforcement be prepared to respond to them effectively and lawfully.

Bulletin Reports
Criminal History Improvement Program Mediation Programs Public Safety Officers’ Programs

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) pose a threat to the American public and have become an issue of national importance. Law enforcement and public health agencies at the local, state, and federal levels recently have begun to examine and upgrade their response capabilities. New organizations tasked with combating the threat, such as the Department of Homeland Security, have surfaced and started organizing their resources. Today’s literature and media, especially in the wake of September 11, 2001, contain numerous articles and information on this topic, and new sources appear daily. However, with all of this activity, the civil aviation community¹ only recently has begun planning WMD-driven contingencies. On both airport and air carrier levels, many issues remain unresolved, and several hurdles lie ahead. The civil aviation community will continue to prepare for and combat WMD threats, but law enforcement and public health agencies also must pool their resources to fend off the most likely WMD threat: biological weapons.²

Biological weapons are natural organisms or diseases used in a harmful or destructive manner (e.g., smallpox, anthrax, and Ebola). Many countries and terrorist groups have the capability to mass produce lethal viruses and distribute them throughout the human population. This creates a serious threat to the American public’s freedom and safety. Although the civil aviation community is starting to assess threats of WMD and biological weapons with its own resources, it typically has relied on the research and resources of law enforcement agencies. Nationally, the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and a multitude of other organizations always have identified groups likely to use WMD and will continue to do so with a sense of urgency after terrorists utilized civil aviation to destroy the World Trade Center and damage the Pentagon. Although the United States remains one of the world’s countries most threatened by WMD, it needs cooperation from other countries in investigating and arresting elusive terrorists.

Mr. Raffel, a former security manager for the Federal Aviation Administration, now serves as the senior director for public safety at the Orlando, Florida, International Airport.

The United States has emerged as the world economic and technological power while fragmentation tears apart other regions of the world. As fragmentation creates conflict and countries choose sides, the resulting instability increases the likelihood of asymmetric threats directed against the United States.³Some of these threats most likely will involve WMD and could target the civil aviation community. Furthermore, the pervasiveness of the U.S. civil aviation presence in the world, combined with the vulnerable state of aviation preparedness to combat and respond to biological attacks, creates a significant risk to airports, air carriers, and the American public.

Biological pathogens exacerbate this risk. Incidents involving biological pathogens may arise that terrorists have not initiated. These incidents may happen randomly and with no foul intentions. For example, a Canadian woman on a plane flying from Congo to Montreal, which then proceeded to New York, began exhibiting signs of hemorrhagic fever. The Ebola virus, foreign to American soil and lethal to humans, induces hemorrhagic fever, which is an airborne disease. It could have infected the airplane staff or other passengers traveling to the United States, even though the woman did not continue with the plane from Montreal to New York. The woman had no intention of transporting the biological pathogen to the United States, but she created an incident that could have proven fatal for many people.⁴ The emergence of new and more virulent strains of disease around the world increases the probability of civil aviation involvement in a biological event. Although not predictable and not as serious a threat to the American public as WMD, these situations deserve attention from the civil aviation community.

The FBI has been designated the lead agency for crisis management response to threats or acts of terrorism. FEMA and other federal agencies will provide direct support upon request.⁵ If WMD are involved, the FBI may request a domestic emergency support team to provide expert advice and assistance to the FBI on-scene commander. FEMA’s deployment of a team will take time, however. In the interim, the local airport will manage the crisis according to procedures, which typically include the activation of the emergency operations center (EOC) and, possibly, a mobile command post. Airports and air carriers have experience providing support in crisis situations, and they know what kind of resources law enforcement agencies will request.

When a WMD incident occurs, the rules change. Generally, complex biological attacks have lacked association with civil aviation incidents. When a biological event takes place, the calculus of crisis management differs from what the civil aviation industry commonly takes for granted and has practiced over the years. This makes cooperation between the civil aviation community and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies more important than ever.

Who is trained and equipped to respond quickly when a biological incident occurs on an aircraft or at an airport? Firefighters and police, otherwise trained to respond quickly and decisively to a disaster scene, have new requirements for response to biological events. Testing protocols and isolation factors become important, as do proper equipment and training.

Who is responsible for quarantine of an aircraft? A biological incident places new organizations on the civil aviation crisis management platform. During a suspected biological attack, the public health community will play a major role because it has a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), together with local and state health authorities, will assume part of the decision-making process and, in non-criminal cases, may even take the lead.

At what point does a biological scene become a criminal investigation? Biological events may be difficult to connect with criminal intent, especially in the early stage but an assessment of criminality must be completed. Some questions exist that may be pertinent to this issue.

What kind of viruses/outbreaks have authorities found?
Are the viruses/outbreaks lethal to humans?
Could the use of this particular virus be considered a weapon?
How was the virus discovered?
How widespread is the damage?
Is this widespread nature normal, or would it only happen if the virus was purposely released? Answering these and other specific questions will provide guidance to law enforcement officers in determining the need for investigative procedures. Moreover, although the issue of criminality will arise continually during a biological incident, only interagency cooperation will ultimately determine if a biological event requires a criminal investigation.

During a WMD incident, the EOC group, comprised of decision makers, may react differently compared to its behavior in other crisis situations. Given the need for trained and expert guidance, the EOC may become a unified command post responsible for managing the biological crisis. A lead individual retains ultimate decision-making powers in the unified command post. However, the EOC group gains input via a team of firefighters, medical personnel, police, and airport and air carrier representatives, any of whom (especially the firefighters and medical personnel) could become the key decision makers when the need arises.⁶ Carrying out this strategy also assumes a high level of training in unified command procedures and a firm partnership with local, state, and federal public health entities.

On the federal level, FEMA has been designated the lead agency for consequence management.⁷ Crisis management transitions to consequence management when a hijacked plane has been brought down or when a bomb explodes. The FBI manages the crisis while in progress, and FEMA handles the aftermath and coordinates the clean up. While the consequence management roles of the federal agencies, firefighters, and local health authorities tend to be organized and frequently exercised, experts scarcely have studied the response to biological incidents within the framework of civil aviation. All levels of authority have learned, however, that WMD incidents involving civil aviation demand unique procedures.

Response to a WMD plight always has life safety as the first priority. Therefore, the response falls primarily in the hands of local firefighters, in concert with FEMA and other appropriate federal and local assets. However, follow-up responsibilities also exist for civil aviation. Record keeping, especially in the wake of a biological event, becomes critical. Following the arrival of the aforementioned plane from Congo and its Canadian passenger who was exhibiting signs of the hemorrhagic virus, the CDC failed to obtain information on the individual from the airline. As a result, the CDC has begun working with the aviation industry to determine ways of retrieving information when necessary.⁸ More complete and archived passenger information will benefit the mitigation of a WMD incident.

Air carriers should examine their procedures and capabilities regarding WMD threats. The devastation brought on by biological attacks might be susceptible to air carrier countermeasures. In what ways are aircraft vulnerable to biological attacks? In what ways can airlines reconfigure airplanes to defend against such threats? The aviation community only recently began trying to answer these questions and explore various options.

Within the foreseeable future, biological attacks against the United States and its interests are a distinct possibility. The events of September 11, 2001, and the resulting anthrax cases prove that this threat against the United States remains real. Because of the historical use of civil aviation as a terrorist target, the aviation industry is at high risk. This risk becomes even greater when investigators consider the accidental (nonterrorist) possibilities.

At present, civil aviation remains ill-prepared to deal with these types of events. At the airport level, partnerships must be formed with local, state, and federal law enforcement and public health entities. Agencies must examine their standard operating procedures for conformity and consistency. Airports also must practice their responses to WMD threats. Tabletop exercises should lead into planning for full-scale exercises. Air carriers also have a role in defending against these types of incidents beyond their involvement in exercises. Airplane crew training should include information about WMD. Personnel should know what procedures to follow if a biological event occurs. Furthermore, airlines should develop and implement means to assist with passenger tracking after the conclusion of flights.

Finally, the entire civil aviation community (e.g., air carriers, airports, Federal Aviation Administration, and Transportation Security Administration) should establish both preventive and countermeasures against WMD. National-level procedures focusing on “best-risk” airports into which flights may be diverted should be considered.⁹Federal agencies should closely coordinate their efforts to combat WMD with local airports and air carriers. Additionally, partnership opportunities across the civil aviation spectrum should be explored. A better prepared and more coordinated response is essential to providing safety to the public against a WMD threat.

¹ In the current context, this group includes passenger and cargo carriers, but does not expand into the general aviation community. General aviation response to biohazards is a subject deserving further study, but will not be examined in this article.

² The second and third weapons of the WMD triad, chemical and radiological hazards, are not examined in this article. Given the present state of delivery systems, biological events may be more likely to occur in a civil aviation context. Further, response protocols for chemical and radiological events are sufficiently unique and deserve separate treatment.

³ The phrase “asymmetric threat” has become a call sign of counterterrorism that means covert or nontraditional war operations.

⁴“Woman Falls Ill After Trip to Congo, Doctors Suspect Hemorrhagic Virus,” Associated Press, February 6, 2001.

⁵Presidential Decision Directive-39. ⁶ Drielak and Brandon, Weapons of Mass Destruction (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2000), 60. “By its very nature, a WMD incident will most likely involve many different agencies, multiple disciplines and numerous jurisdictions…all the involved agencies contribute to the command and management process by determining the overall goals and objectives of the incident and in jointly developing tactical objectives.”

⁸ The information requested concerned passengers seated next to the stricken woman. The CDC ultimately obtained passenger information from U.S. Customs, which provided their declaration form.

⁹According to the author, “best-risk” refers to locations where organizations and equipment needed to combat a WMD strike are positioned.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has announced that the adult U.S. correctional population reached a record of almost 6.6 million men and women at the end of 2001. This was an increase of 147,700 people from December 31, 2000.

At the end of 2001, about 3.1 percent of the nation’s adult population, or 1 in every 32 adult residents, were on probation or parole or were held in a prison or jail. The adult probation population grew 2.8 percent during 2001, an increase of 106,542 probationers. The nation’s parole population increased by 1 percent in 2001, or by 7,249 men and women.

Approximately 3 out of 4 probationers were under active supervision and were required to regularly report to a probation authority in person or by mail or telephone. An estimated 53 percent of all probationers had been convicted of a felony, 45 percent of a misdemeanor, and 1 percent of other infractions, according to a BJS probation and parole bulletin. Approximately 25 percent were on probation for a drug law violation and 18 percent for driving while intoxicated.

Of the almost 2 million adults discharged from probation in 2001, more than 3 out of 5 successfully met supervision conditions. About 13 percent were reincarcerated because of a violation of parole conditions or a new criminal offense.

The bulletin, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001 (NCJ 195669) was written by BJS statistician Lauren E. Glaze. Single copies may be obtained by calling the BJS Clearinghouse at 1-800-732-3277 or by accessing http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ppus01.htm.

Police departments typically do not think of using marketing concepts when trying to improve their image. In the past, for-profit companies and corporations have used marketing techniques to increase customer satisfaction. But, police agencies easily can adapt the concepts of business marketing to help them reach their customers (citizens) and educate them about the many services that they provide.

Marketing available police services (MAPS)¹ is a process whereby communities can learn what services their law enforcement agencies offer to meet public safety needs and wants. In return for providing these services, the police department receives more positive contacts, cooperation, and an improved image from the community that it serves. This proves true no matter what type of population (e.g., college campus, city, county, or state).

Police services marketing attempts to attract new customers who are unaware of police services and to keep a positive relationship with those individuals who already have had contact with the department. While reaching out to new people is important, it is even more important to keep those people agencies have contact with satisfied. Various research has indicated that satisfied people tell their stories of police contact to at least 3 other people, whereas dissatisfied individuals will tell, on average, 10 others about a negative experience with the police.

Marketing consists of understanding, creating, communicating, and delivering services to obtain members’ satisfaction. Adding each of these components together creates a marketing plan for success.

Departments must understand the makeup of their communities, as well as the needs and expectations that citizens have of their police services. Knowing the diversity of the service population (e.g., age and national origin) helps agencies define who they serve. Even understanding who passes through the community at different times of the day can help determine what public safety needs exist. For example, if a community has a high school population of 1,500 students who come from many different neighboring communities, law enforcement must consider providing for their public safety needs while they are on the way to school, at school, and when they leave school. Or, a college campus police department might have a significant Spanish-speaking segment of the student population that would impact services by creating a need for documents produced in both English and Spanish.

Once agencies define their service population, they must survey their communities’ needs. What expectations do citizens have as they relate to public safety issues? What services could the department provide to meet concerns of community members? Creating a planned response can help answer these questions. Departments can focus on crime prevention programs, hold community workshops, use focus brochures, or take other steps to respond to their communities’ needs.

Once agencies develop plans, programs, and new services, they must communicate these initiatives to their constituents. A department can have many services, but if no one knows about them, they waste resources. Communication constitutes a vital link between the police and the community, and it can develop a positive relationship between the two entities.

Finally, agencies must deliver police services to the public. In turn for the services, the police department’s image will improve, and agencies will serve their communities more effectively.

THE MARKETING MIX
Today, the single most significant marketing doctrine is the marketing mix, which encompasses all of the agency’s tools that it uses to influence a market segment to accomplish its objectives. These tactical tools are used to influence customers, and, in
law enforcement, they can help realize the police department’s goal of a positive image.

When determining the marketing mix for which tools to use in a marketing plan, managers must remain cognizant of the internal and external environments of the organization. Neighborhood and community groups may influence what services a police department offers. Local newspapers and radio and television stations can carry news of department activities and services, as well as provide editorial comments to influence public opinion of the department.

Public relations, the single most important masspromotions tool that significantly can impact the department’s image, has the ability to create favorable publicity, build on the department’s image, and prevent or handle rumors and incorrect information. Therefore,
law enforcement agencies must have an excellent working relationship with the local media. Positive media stories are free
marketing ads about the department. The more trusting a relationship a department has with reporters, the better it will be able to
work with them during times of crisis.

Most services provided by police departments are intangible. When possible, the department should look for ways to leave a tangible product behind. For example, officers can leave brochures, patches, rulers, frisbees, stuffed animals, and other departmental memorabilia with citizens. Police services’ design, variety, public relations, advertising, location, and quality form much of an agency’s marketing mix. An agency’s use of technology, collaboration with other partners, management perspective, and selection of staff members also prove important considerations of the mix.

Use of Technology
In today’s technological society, the Internet should play an important part in any MAPS plan. A department’s Web site can offer services reaching large groups or providing for one-on-one contact. Some possible uses of a Web site include sharing department information, crime statistics, and safety tips; providing opportunities for citizen feedback; adding a silent witness program; and using e-mail as a vehicle for communication with the public. Video clips from a department’s Web site can serve as an easy way to have community members see and hear what it has to offer. The Internet is an economical and valuable tool for reaching out to the community and beyond.

After becoming the college’s police chief in December 2000, I met with constituents from different departments. In these meetings, I advised them of the services the department provides and learned that many employees had questions about what number to dial for emergency police assistance. Several people thought that they should dial 911, some believed 9-911 was the correct number, and, yet, other employees thought that they should dial extension 2000, which is the number to the Public
Safety Police Department on campus. As a result of these meetings, we developed red stickers with the words “Public Safety Emergency Dial 2000" on them. Then, student employees searched each building and attached one of the stickers to every phone on campus. Our department received a tremendous amount of praise for this idea, which improved the staff’s ability to contact the police department in an emergency.

Marketing Alliances

Small departments often face difficulties when offering services that take a significant amount of resources, but they may find that collaboration with other departments can result in an attractive solution to the problem. Businesses consider this collaboration
as creating marketing alliances. One such service is the formation of a citizen police academy (CPA) that residents attend for several weeks to learn how police operations work in the community. 2 Combining resources and staff efforts from one or more
departments can make this service become a reality. Members of each participating department’s community should have the opportunity to attend the CPA.

For any MAPS plan to succeed, it must have support from upper management, from the chief of police to the command staff.
Supervisors should mandate that their line officers deal with everyone with a customer service approach; they should treat everyone with respect and dignity, even during arrests.

No marketing plan can be successful without appropriate financial support. Therefore, departmental management support can help ensure that financial resources, through the budget process, are focused toward marketing efforts.

In addition to concentrating on quality services, managers must use internal marketing strategies and train all employees who interact with the public to deliver quality customer service. Departments also must have a good service recovery plan, which
focuses on turning a complainant into a contented customer.

Police administrators should take advantage of every opportunity to become a willing participant in local law enforcement and community organizations. Joining committees and participating in community groups increases the department’s exposure and
contacts.

The Marketing Staff
With any marketing effort, only employees with a positive attitude should reach out to the community and customers. To select someone for marketing efforts who does not express an interest in working with people can result in disaster. In fact, selecting
the wrong officer can create the opposite of the department’s intended effect and, possibly, lead to a negative impression about the department and its employees.

Regardless of rank, those officers who have positive attitudes, enjoy public speaking, can think on their feet when asked questions, and present a positive appearance for the department prove ideal candidates to work on marketing
efforts. Adding bilingual staff to the resource bin also can help departments. Many parts of the country are experiencing a growth
of minority groups; therefore, reaching out to them only enhances a department’s marketing efforts.

Finally, while criminals will not consider contact with the police as a positive experience,it must remain one in which officers treat them fairly and with respect. This approach reduces complaints, results in fewer lawsuit-related legal expenses, and, possibly, brings more cooperation from arrestees.

The marketing available police services plan focuses on providing citizens with a positive experience. The concept can constitute an important component to improving and maintaining the image of a police department. For the marketing plan to be effective, agencies must understand, create, communicate, and deliver their services to community residents. Additionally, managers can use various tools in their marketing mix, such as the use of technology, collaboration with other agencies, and the appropriate selection of staff members.

While preventing and solving crimes is the mainstay of every police agency, knowing what community members expect beyond crime solving, and then providing those services, can prove just as important for positive community relations with police. Implementing a police services marketing plan can be the mechanism to do so.

1 The author coined this phrase to describe the process he uses in his department.

2 For descriptive accounts of CPA programs, see Elizabeth M. Bonello and Joseph A. Schafer, “Citizen Police Academies: Do They Do More
Than Entertain?” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, November 2002, 19-23; Giant A. Aryani, Terry D. Garrett, and Carl L. Alsabrook, “Citizen Police Academy: Success Through Community Partnership,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 2000, 16-21; Ellen G. Cohn, “The Citizen Police Academy: A Recipe for Improving Police-Community Relations,” Journal of Criminal Justice 24 (1996): 265-271; Martin Alan Greenberg, “Citizen Police Academies,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, August 1991, 10-13; Ronald E. Ferguson, “The Citizen Police Academy,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, September 1985, 5-7.

Chief Fazzini heads the College of DuPage Police Department in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Handmade Blowgun
Officers with the Vacaville, California, Police Department confiscated this weapon, which had been made from a broken
auto shade. The blowgun measured approximately 36 inches in length and was equipped with a front sight that was painted red. A
folding rear sight was manufactured and attached approximately 10 inches behind the front sight with a sheet-metal screw. A piece
of foam had been attached with electrical tape to form a mouthpiece. The 20 metal spokes used to turn the shade hardware had
been converted into 4-inch metal darts. The tip of the darts had been filed to a sharp point, and the end of the darts had been equipped with a yellow plastic chute to catch the air when blown.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it is awarding over $36 million to the 50 states, District of Columbia, and three territories to improve the quality and accessibility of the nation’s criminal history record systems. States can use the funds for a variety of purposes, including to strengthen their criminal record systems to support the nation’s efforts to reduce crime and fight terrorism.

Funding, which is approved under the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), is administered by the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The goal of NCHIP is to improve the nation’s public safety by enhancing and upgrading the nation’s criminal history records, which are used for background checks for firearms purchases, criminal sentencing, and employment in sensitive jobs. Since the program was initiated in 1995, the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded nearly $391 million to the states and territories, which has led to a 23 percent increase in the number of criminal history records held nationwide and a 40 percent increase in the number of automated records available to
law enforcement.

A list of projects undertaken by states with previous NCHIP awards is contained on the OJP Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/nchip.htm. Additional information about BJS, NCHIP, or other OJP programs can be
found on the OJP Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov.

Mediation Programs
Mediating Citizen Complaints Against Police Officers: A Guide for Police and Community Leaders addresses the implementation,
expectations, and evaluation of mediation programs. The mediation process focuses on solving problems by understanding the conflict and the stakeholders involved, not on placing blame. Mediation programs have been successful in settling disputes, but implementing them can be difficult. This Office of Community Oriented Policing Services guide by Samuel Walker, Carol Archbold, and Leigh Herbst examines how to deal with implementation obstacles and how to overcome police and citizen resistance to a mediation program. It also reviews a successful mediation process for communities considering developing a mediation program. Key issues, such as eligibility, cultural barriers, and creating a level playing field between the police and those involved in the conflict, are discussed. For availability and ordering information, contact the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 800-421-6770 or access the guide electronically at http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/e04021486web.pdf.

The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program and the Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program provide valuable benefits to the families of public safety officers whose deaths or permanent and total disabilities are the direct result of a traumatic injury sustained in the line of duty. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) manages both programs.

The PSOB program provides a one-time financial benefit to the eligible survivors of public safety officers. The program offers peace of mind to men and women seeking careers in public safety and makes a strong statement about the value American society places on the contributions of those who serve their communities in potentially dangerous circumstances.

Initially, the PSOB program provided benefits only to state and local law enforcement officers and firefighters. However, in 1984, it was expanded to include federal law enforcement officers and firefighters, and, since 1986, it has covered federal, state, and local public rescue squads and ambulance crews. PSOB program benefits are not subject to federal income tax, federal estate tax, or attachment by creditors. State and local benefits must not be reduced by benefits received under the PSOB Act, and the PSOB program benefit is not reduced by any benefit received at the state or local level.

The PSOEA program was established in 1998 to provide educational assistance to spouses and children of police, fire, and emergency public safety personnel killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. PSOEA program benefits may be used solely to defray educational expenses, including tuition, room and board, books, supplies, and education-related fees. Assistance under the PSOEA program is available for 45 months for full-time education or training or for a proportional period of time for a part-time program.

For additional information on these two programs, contact the Office of Benefits, Bureau of Justice Assistance, 810 Seventh Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20531, telephone 888-744-6513, fax 202-616-0314, e-mail: AskBJA@ojp.usdoj.gov. To obtain a copy of the July 2001 programs’ fact sheets, access the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA.

Bulletin Reports is an edited collection of criminal justice studies, reports, and project findings. Send your material for consideration to: FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Room 209, Madison Building, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135. (NOTE: The material in this section is intended to be strictly an information source and should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI for any product or service.)

At a time when many communities, through their elected officials, are asking law enforcement agencies to do more with less, using grant funds to supplement departmental budgets provides a perfect route toward achieving their goals. Policing is an expensive endeavor, sometimes accounting for as much as 20 to 30 percent of a city’s entire budget, with the police department often dedicating 90 to 97 percent of its budget to salaries and benefits. That leaves very few dollars for equipment or overtime to embark upon new initiatives. Grant programs, however, can provide a source of relief for fiscally strapped cities and towns. Whether their law enforcement agencies are large or small, all communities can benefit from using grants.¹

During the 1970s, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) began establishing grant programs. The LEAA program sought to improve the infrastructure and to bring about change within law enforcement agencies. Purchasing equipment, sharing technology, hiring personnel, and increasing training were the themes. Although much has changed since the 1970s, much has not. These same themes continue to dominate most program strategies.

Improvement and change represent the key considerations of most grants. Whether a department’s current methods and operations need improvement or its practices need to change to conform to contemporary standards, grants serve to bridge the gap between imagination and practice.

Receiving grant funds can prove advantageous. A combination of hiring initiatives and equipment purchases will improve service delivery while bolstering a department’s image and reputation. Moreover, the public is the indirect recipient of the grant award. A department’s grantsmanship can have a profound effect on crime, the fear of crime, correctional measures and alternatives, juvenile delinquency, and the overall quality of life for every citizen the agency serves.

Conversely, disadvantages also can occur when applying for funding. The process can be labor intensive and involve conducting research, designing charts, obtaining letters of support, gathering endorsements, and forming partnerships. Then, should funding be awarded, the department must adhere to special conditions set by the funding source. Finally, the funding source monitors and tracks the grant. Did the department meet its intended goals? Did the department supplant?² Is the department at risk for an audit? The funding source also requires a myriad of different forms and reports—usually on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis—all due amid the department’s regular work, of course.

All too frequently, criminal justice agencies find themselves separated from the grant process because of inexperience. Where do we find the funds? How do we apply? What’s expected of us? These questions come from all agency executives seeking grant funds for the first few times. The assumption is that when the chief says to the deputy chief, “I want you to apply for this grant. Just write it up and get it done,” miraculously, the funding source will select that proposal over the 2,000 other proposals it receives. Not so, grants are both competitive and often discretionary. To the uninitiated, writing competitive discretionary grants is intimidating. The entire research and writing process often appears to require a creative genius and may not result in an award. However, if departments follow some basic principles, they can learn not only where to seek funding but how to write a winning grant proposal and improve their prospects for obtaining some much-needed funds.

Departments can contact a variety of funding sources, from federal and state agencies to private corporations. The most overlooked source is the private sector. Many companies have a philanthropic extension willing to fund projects and programs that represent their company’s interests.³ Another source is the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), a federally sponsored information clearinghouse for people around the country and the world involved with research, policy, and practice related to criminal and juvenile justice and drug control.⁴When contacting the funding source, the department should ask for an RFP (request for proposal), the official announcement from the source indicating the availability of grant funds. The funding source may have many RFPs available. If so, a department should specify which RFPs it needs, such as ones for hiring personnel, purchasing equipment, or creating a special initiative for a target population. If the funding source states that it does not have an RFP that fits a specific program, then the department should request all available RFPs. Sometimes, the person receiving the call may not have sufficient training to interpret the request, possess a criminal justice background, or fully understand what the caller actually means. Once the department receives the RFPs, it can digest the individual programs and determine whether funding is applicable.

Captain Shane is the commanding officer of the Policy and Planning Division of the Newark, New Jersey, Police Department.

The life of a grant begins with the decision to apply for funding. Usually, a member of the command staff or the chief executive first creates the interest (e.g., the desire to form a new anticrime task force, to enhance services for domestic violence victims, or to implement an overtime program for DWI). Once officials determine that their current operating budget is insufficient to harness the idea, the grant process begins.

Because the funding process can prove labor intensive and intimidating and depending on the jurisdiction’s form of government and the level of bureaucracy, the grant development team may face a very cumbersome application process or, instead, one that flows rather easily. The typical grant application process involves about 15 steps that represent approximately 4 to 6 months of effort. In most situations, a department spends approximately 30 to 50 percent of the time waiting for the funding source to review the proposal. Departments must remember that if the funding source is a government entity, it receives hundreds, possibly thousands, of applications from agencies around the country. The source must account for each proposal, assign each one to a reviewer, and ensure that each proposal completes the review process (i.e., gets accepted or rejected for funding) before, finally, making the award announcement.

Whatever the process, the grant development team should not become discouraged. The rewards, both personal and organizational, are tremendous. A great sense of accomplishment occurs when the team submits the final draft request and receives the award letter congratulating the department.

Before beginning the writing process, the department should gather sources of information and conduct a literature review on the topic. An excellent starting place is the grant writer’s own knowledge and experience. Life experience (particularly within a person’s profession) provides riches from which to draw information. The various assignments grant writers may have held throughout their careers, along with their educational pursuits or other jobs, all contribute to their personal libraries of information.

In addition, a natural corollary flows from using personal experiences to using the knowledge of others. Therefore, grant writers should consider conducting interviews. First, they should define the purpose of the interview. After preliminarily researching the topic, they should select potential interviewees, targeting those at the top (e.g., executives, administrators, division heads, section chiefs, and directors). Such individuals likely will have a broad understanding of the policies, issues, and procedures on the topic in question. Often, they can provide grant writers with specific information necessary to the proposal, and, if not, they at least can identify the correct person to contact.

Probably, the most convenient and extensive way to gather materials is via the Internet, using meta search engines⁵ to reduce the amount of time spent researching the topic. Moreover, every accredited college or university has a Web site. Also, NCJRS and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) collection, along with local libraries’ reference sections, provide other places to assemble materials. Finally, research groups dedicated to improving policing can offer indispensable information to grant writers.⁶

After gathering resource materials and beginning the writing process, it then becomes necessary to garner support for the idea. Support for the program can come from a variety of origins, such as authorities (subject-matter experts), concrete examples, or statistical illustrations.

To reduce narcotics complaints by 25 percent within the first 6 months
To secure guilty pleas or convictions in 80 percent of all cases

• To deploy the Tactical Narcotics Team, which will use covert surveillance techniques within the target area, for the first 8 weeks

• To deploy the Special Investigation Unit, which will conduct undercover (UC) and confidential informant (CI) narcotics “buy” operations within the target area, for the first 12 weeks

• To deploy the Special Investigation Unit, which will apply for search warrants at locations within the target area in response to the UC and CI intelligence, throughout the duration of the program

• To employ the Emergency Response Team, which will execute all search and arrest warrants within the target area, throughout the duration of the program

• To assign a special narcotics prosecutor, who will investigate and prosecute all individual cases as part of a RICO scheme when the case involves a firearm or the weight of the contraband seized equals or exceeds 1 U.S. pound, throughout the duration of the program

• To assign uniformed patrol officers, who will conduct situational crime prevention operations for those locations within the target area that are responsible for 10 or more calls for service, during the last 15 weeks of the program

For nearly every program that a department can conceive, an authoritative documented source exists that will support the concept.⁷Grant writers use authoritative support when they cite respected authors or publications on the topic under consideration. This demonstrates that the department is not just espousing a theory or advancing a supposition but showing that recognized authorities have studied the topic scientifically or proven the theory. Most people are influenced by the testimony of others when dealing with unfamiliar topics. The reader (in this case, the review team) will tend to respect the direct quotations or paraphrased statements of authorities because of the special knowledge or experience that these individuals possess about the topic in question.

“Research has shown that vivid, concrete examples have more impact on [readers’] beliefs and actions than any other kind of supporting material.”⁸ With examples, ideas become specific, personal, and lively.⁹ Grant writers can use two types of examples, factual and hypothetical. A factual example describes a true incident as it relates to the proposal. A hypothetical example, on the other hand, depicts an imaginary situation (often, fiction based on fact) that relates to the general principle of the proposal. By using a hypothetical example, the grant writer creates a realistic scenario related directly to the proposal and captivates the reader (again, the review team). Then, by incorporating real statistics into the example, the writer gives the perception that this undoubtedly could happen in real life. Indeed, the grant writer should use statistics to support a hypothetical example so that it does not seem too far-fetched.

Because this is an age of statistics, expressing what actually is meant numerically often gives others a sense of security in their own knowledge. It also affords the reader the opportunity to visualize the intensity of what is being said or to feel the impact of a particular problem. A widely shared belief infers that when used properly, statistics offer an effective way to clarify and support ideas. To avoid falling victim to unreliable statistics, grant writers should ask two questions: 1) Are the statistics from a reliable source? and 2) Are the statistics representative? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then the writers risk misrepresenting what they wish to portray.

Primarily, grant writers should use statistics to quantify ideas and give them numerical precision. Whenever possible, the writers should include visual aids to clarify statistical trends. A simple pie chart, time line, or bar graph will show the relationship between a time period and the particular social condition.

The goal of grant writing is to receive funding—but not at any cost. Writing, a form of power, carries a heavy ethical burden. People will be influenced and persuaded by presentation. This is how one department’s proposal receives funding over the others. The question of ethics in grant writing usually centers around the writer’s goals and methods.

Grant writers must make sure that their goals are ethically correct. As criminal justice professionals and (probably) government representatives, grant writers who laud worthless or wasteful programs place their departments on shaky ethical ground. Similar caution extends to the writer’s methods as well. Even if the goals are ethically correct, grant writers are not being ethical if they employ cheap and careless methods. Basically, this signifies that the “ends do not justify the means.” Writers should review five recognized considerations for ethical grant writing.

1) Subject awareness: Grant writers have an obligation to themselves, the granting agency, and the public they serve. They must understand the program for which the department is applying and how it relates to the city, the department, and its mission or vision statement. Service is the credo, not self-service.

2) Honesty: Writers must remain cognizant of the temptation to distort facts and figures for their own purposes. Responsible writers do not falsify facts, present few facts as representative of the whole picture, or use tentative findings as conclusive evidence.

3) Valid reasoning: Responsible grant writers take affirmative steps to avoid making hasty generalizations, asserting casual connections where none really exist, using invalid or absurd analogies/examples, and yielding to prejudices.

4) Sound evidence: A grant that is awarded is not full of “fluff.” It contains real circumstances supported by qualified, objective sources and avoids plagiarizing.

5) Plagiarizing: Generally, grant proposals are a collaboration between the writers and their sources. To be fair and ethical, the writer must acknowledge borrowing another person’s ideas and words by documenting the source. To borrow without proper documentation constitutes a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs in two forms: 1) borrowing someone else’s ideas, information, or language without documenting the source and 2) documenting the source but paraphrasing the source’s language too closely, without using quotation marks to indicate that the writer borrowed the words and phrases.¹⁰ Writers should consult a reputable writing handbook and give credit where credit is due. In short, if they use another person’s material, they must cite it.

Needless to say, the process of actually writing the grant will test the writer’s determination and creativity, but can coalesce into a comprehensible, meaningful, and persuasive document that brings money into the department. Grant writers are selling something—a concept, a belief in their cities and departments. They must convince people to invest in them because they have a worthwhile service to offer. Therefore, grant writers should draft their proposals with the two basic principles of presentation and content at the forefront.

Presentation probably represents the single most salient feature of grant packages because no second chances exist in first impressions. Therefore, the grant writer should—

create the document on a quality word processing program, never handwrite the proposal;
put headers and footers in the document and number each page;
use letterhead with original signatures and never fold or crease the paper;
print in color, but do not make the document gaudy with too many different colors;
include charts and graphs to depict data;
organize the document logically and according to RFP requirements;
grammar check and spell check the document and have it proofread by another person;
bind the document in quality material; and, most of all,
follow the instructions offered by the funding source.

Content includes the language, grammar, and punctuation that the writer employs. Words are the tools of the writing craft. Writers must choose the right words for the task they want to accomplish. They should not use words unless they know their meanings. If uncertain, writers should check the dictionary. They also should vary their words, but not use complicated ones, except when explaining or clarifying difficult subjects (e.g., DNA testing procedures, forensic science materials, or computer equipment). Writers always should use bias-free language. They should not refer to all members of an occupational group with a masculine pronoun. Instead, they should say he or she or change the noun to plural and use the pronoun they. Writers should work with the eight parts of speech—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections—recognized as the traditional parts of English grammar. Finally, writers should ensure that they correctly employ all of the common punctuation marks, including the period, comma, exclamation point, question mark, semicolon, and colon.

The funding source sets the substantive provisions of the grant. These will vary among sources, but all have the basic requirements of the problem statement, goals and objectives, program strategy, and budget narrative. Other substantive requirements that funding sources may desire include management structure, organizational capability, an abstract, a curriculum vitae of each participant, matching funds requirement (local match sources), projected milestones or accomplishments, geographic location, a statement of the program’s anticipated contribution to criminal justice policy and practice, the program’s continuation and retention, additional resource commitments, and a statement of the program’s contribution to the state’s strategy (Byrne formula).¹¹Because many departments seeking grant funds do not follow a predefined format, their applications may not flow logically. By following some simple steps, however, grant writers can ensure that their proposals have a smooth continuity, thereby increasing their chances of obtaining an award.

Grant writers should design a bold and attractive cover that includes the name of the grant, a subtitle if necessary, the names of both the grant program and the funding source, the date of submission, the city and state, and the department’s name. They should use graphics and color to heighten the appearance of the cover.

Grant writers always should include a table of contents so reviewers can refer easily to a specific provision without fumbling through each page. They should use an outline format and indent the subsections for clarity.

Some funding sources require an abstract, a one-page description of what the program proposes to do and the expected results. It summarizes the important points of the program and highlights the key aspects of the problem statement, the program description, and the goals and objectives.

The problem statement is the bedrock upon which all else rests. If no problem exists, the department needs no funding. Grant writers should set a historical perspective that leads from the beginning of the problem, through different time periods, and up to the current condition. If it is a crime problem, insofar as possible, they should make a correlation between the crime problem and an underlying criminological theory (e.g., rational choice, routine activities, social disorganization, or conflict). Also, writers should identify the antecedents that preexisted or currently coexist with the crime problem. They should use statistics and a variety of charts to bolster their claims and extract percentages, show rates, and add trend lines.

Often used interchangeably, goals and objectives, in fact, are two distinct criteria that must be met. A goal is a broad general statement explaining what the grant program is expected to accomplish. Goal statements often start with an action indicator, such as to or will (e.g., to reduce inmate population, to decrease fear of crime, will strengthen community partnerships, will minimize the temptation to join a gang). By contrast, objectives are specific, precise, and exact statements that lead step by step to the achievement of the goals. Four elements of an objective—subject, assignment, condition, and standard—must be met for it to be measurable.

1) The subject represents who is tasked with doing something (e.g., the tactical narcotics team, the patrol division, the municipal court system). The subject is the element or person that will be responsible for accomplishing what the program is designed to do.

2) The assignment depicts what the subject is to do (e.g., to effect arrests for curfew violations, to expedite incoming prisoners, to conduct a workload analysis). The assignment, an action, explains the specific task (or responsibility) required of the subject in question.

3) The condition denotes the given circumstances under which the task must be performed. Conditions, either environmental or situational (e.g., in the field, at the domestic violence advocacy center, in the county jail), explain how, where, and with what the assignment is to be done. Because the condition represents the “given” circumstances under which the assignment will be performed, the objective often contains that word (e.g., Given a cellular telephone, the neighborhood patrol officer will....).

4) The standard specifies how well the task must be accomplished. The standard defines what the expected or anticipated results will be (e.g., without error, with 90 percent accuracy, according to approved agency policy and procedure, within the first month).

The program strategy is the specific method or activities that the department will employ for the duration of the grant program. In this section, the grant writer must provide a clear statement of how the department is going to organize and administer the project to meet the intended goals and objectives. The writers should confer with the various departmental elements involved in carrying out the plan and identify what each is prepared to commit (e.g., 15 police officers from the drug squad, 1 municipal prosecutor dedicated to the program, 5 street sweepers from the sanitation department for neighborhood clean up, and 3 drug and alcohol counselors from social services). If required by the RFP, the grant writer must identify specific individuals who, by virtue of training and experience, will carry out portions of the program and attach their resumes. In short, this section requires that the writer states the means that the department will use to achieve the ends.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
202-307-5911
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office)
1-800-421-6770 or 202-616-3031
http://www.usdoj.gov/

Contact the state’s “administrative agency for assistance.” For example, in New Jersey, it is the State Division of Criminal Justice, and, in California, it is the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

The state’s administrative agency is responsible for passing through federal funds to local jurisdictions. Often, the federal government does not make funds directly available to the local jurisdiction. Instead, the federal government passes the money to the administrative agency, which then disseminates it to the local jurisdictions.

A significant source of funding for programs on a state level is the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Grant Program (Byrne Formula Grant). Contact the state’s administrative agency to obtain a copy of this program.

There are thousands of private foundations that fund hundreds of program areas each year. Besides the Internet or the library as a research mechanism, companies, such as Research Grant Guides (P.O. Box 1214, Loxahatchee, FL 33470, 561-795-6129), publish resource guides to assist agencies in targeting only those foundations awarding programs in a particular geographical area.

Such guides are extremely useful. First, they are categorized so agencies only need to review the guide for the category for which they are interested (e.g., equipment grants, building grants, social service grants). Then, they are arranged by state, further organizing each guide into a comprehensible format.

The budget narrative details a comprehensive itemization and explanation of the costs incurred from the administration and implementation of the program. Budgeted expenses must be reasonable, allowable, and cost-effective for the activities proposed in the program strategy. The budget narrative also must describe and explain how each particular item was calculated. Typical budget categories include personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contracts, utilities, construction, indirect costs, and consultants. When creating the budget, the department must not overlook one important issue—the budget must be in proportion to the goals and objectives. Often, the goals of the project far exceed the funds being requested, thus making the goals unattainable. This is known as the reasonableness requirement of the budget.

Often, a grant application has a page restriction limiting the narrative portion. If this is the case, writers should include an appendix that contains all of the charts, tables, and supporting documents. They should not waste valuable space in the actual narrative section, but append all supporting materials and use an in-text citation (e.g., see chart 1 in appendix). In this way, writers can include organizational charts setting forth specific elements, flowcharts depicting a particular process, Gantt charts¹² denoting a sequence of events and milestones, and additional statistical data. A variety of off-the-shelf, user-friendly software applications exist for creating charts and diagrams. These programs can illustrate complex processes and strategies and can present ideas and information with greater impact through the power of clear visual communication.

Whenever criminal justice agencies are tasked with addressing a problem, they should consider the grant process as a viable solution. They can use grants to start new initiatives or supplement existing ones. Funding sources disperse millions of federal, state, and private funds every year, but agencies have to enter the process to win the award.

If grant writers apply the basic principles of researching, writing, and organizing to the process, they will add strength and credibility to their applications. And, once the award letter comes congratulating the agency on winning the grant, they can proclaim proudly that their efforts directly contributed to successfully gaining some much-needed funds for their agency to create or maintain quality programs to safeguard their community.

¹ Since 1993, the author has sought and received nearly $40 million in federal and state funding for his agency and community.

² Grant funds always must supplement the city’s budget, not supplant the previously authorized budget. Supplanting can occur in several ways, most commonly when the agency uses grant funds in place of previously appropriated funds. For example, a city has appropriated $3 million for vehicles. Its police department then receives a grant for $3 million and purchases vehicles from grant funds and does not buy any vehicles from the previously budgeted funds. The department just supplanted the original funds with the grant funds. This always is impermissible and may result in the city having to return that portion of the funds that was supplanted. Other more subtle ways of supplanting also can occur. If cities are not certain about whether they are supplanting, they should contact the funding sources and pose their scenarios to them.

³ A project, usually short in duration, has a narrow purpose (e.g., to computerize the department or to replace the department’s fleet). Normally long in duration, a program is a system of opportunities designed to meet a social need (e.g., a quality-of-life issue or an auto-theft-suppression effort). Private companies enjoy associating their names with projects and programs that reflect their business (e.g., insurance companies often donate vehicles, while computer firms provide hardware and software).

⁴ For more information, contact NCJRS at http://www.ncjrs.org or at 800-851-3420.

⁵ A meta search engine, an Internet “search engine of search engines,” accesses several other Internet search engines at the same time for the information requested. This covers more territory with one request as opposed to having to go through each individual search engine.

⁶ For example, the Police Foundation, an independent and unique resource for policing, acts as a catalyst for change and advocate for new ideas and has a Web site at http:// www.policefoundation.org. Also, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a national membership organization of progressive police executives from the largest city, county, and state law enforcement agencies, is dedicated to improving policing and advancing professionalism through research and involvement in public policy debate. Its Web site is http:// www.policeforum.org. Both organizations have conducted studies, such as The Newark Foot Patrol Experiment, The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response, and The Police Response to Gangs: Case Studies of Five Cities, and have compiled publications on preparing grant proposals.

⁷ For example, if the program is a patrol augmentation program, grant writers could consider authors, such as Charles D. Hale or Tony Pate; for a community policing program, they might try authors Robert Trojanowicz, James Q. Wilson, and George L. Kelling; for a problem-solving or situational crime prevention program, they could review works by Ronald V. Clarke, Marcus Felson, or Herman Goldstein; for a juvenile justice program, they might consider authors John T. Whitehead and Steven P. Lab; and for a supervision program, they could look at works by Nathan F. Iannone. These individuals represent some of the most influential academics and practitioners who have used scientific methods to lend credibility to the social sciences, particularly policing.

⁸ Thomas R. Kobella, Jr., “Persuading Teachers to Reexamine the Innovative Elementary Science Programs of Yesterday: The Effect of Anecdotal Versus Data Summary,” Journal of Research in Science Teaching 23 (1986): 437-449.

⁹ For example, the Bible is an extraordinary source of examples where stories, parables, and anecdotes make abstract principles clear and compelling.

¹⁰ Diana Hacker, The Bedford Handbook for Writers (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1991).

¹¹ Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Formula Grants, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20531; contact the State and Local Assistance Division at 202-305-2088 or access http://www.usdoj.gov.

¹² In 1917, Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist, developed a horizontal bar chart as a production control tool to provide a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project.

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin staff invites you to communicate with us via e-mail. Our Internet address is leb@fbiacademy.edu.

We would like to know your thoughts on contemporary law enforcement issues. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions about the magazine. Please include your name, title, and agency on all e-mail messages.

Also, the Bulletin is available for viewing or downloading on a number of computer services, as well as the FBI’s home page. The home page address is http://www.fbi.gov.

Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive edited by Thomas J. Jurkanin, Larry T. Hoover, Jerry L. Dowling, and Janice Ahmad, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 2001.

Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive shares extensive insights, perspectives, suggestions, warnings, concepts, and ideas that codify over 400 years of wisdom of the day-to-day experiences related to the law enforcement profession. The book contains contributions from 20 experienced law enforcement executives edited by four other veterans of the profession.

It represents an excellent work for the newly appointed, as well as experienced, chief of police, sheriff, law enforcement manager, or supervisor. The authors greatly emphasize law enforcement executives’ function in their communities, their interfacing with political institutions, and their roles in law enforcement and general public administration.

Due to the extensive experience of the authors, they ably identify several compelling points. These include executive management rights in collective bargaining, major observations for good employee relations, and five political statesmanship blueprints. The authors also offer several law enforcement executive mission and strategy assessments, as well as points on community-oriented policing, organizational values, and the management of important components of legal liabilities and technology interface and use supported by critical incident planning and management application.

The book contains a list of 10 commandments that pertain to the personal and professional conduct of executives along with a number of ways to minimize personal civil liability, including those areas of prime potential for lawsuits. It also provides a list of 10 characteristics for cultivating quality principles in policing and identifies their strengths and weaknesses. A 5-day training course curriculum for newly appointed law enforcement executives or experienced administrators and their managers and supervisors constitutes a compelling contribution that the book makes to the law enforcement community.

The final chapter entails an outline on media relations to assist in maintaining the success of law enforcement executives, managers, and supervisors. In addition, the chapter includes monitoring ideas to measure the public’s attitude toward an agency’s operations and implemented policies and identifies several critical priorities of an effective law enforcement executive.

Enduring, Surviving, and Thriving as a Law Enforcement Executive will appeal to law enforcement executives at all levels, local government officials, state and local district attorneys, and planning and financial administrators. It also would interest law enforcement executive development schools, national police institutes, and initial and in-service executive training programs. Overall, the book is a critical and helpful compilation of the concepts and ideas used and being tried by some of the best executives in the law enforcement profession.

Reviewed by Larry R. Moore Certified Emergency Manager International Association of Emergency Managers Knoxville, Tennessee

Legal Digest

Police Response to
Anonymous Emergency Calls
By MICHAEL L. CIMINELLI, J.D.

Police officers in the United States respond to numerous and diverse calls for service on a daily basis, often using the nationally recognized “911” emergency number. One court has noted that “[a] 911 call is one of the most common—and universally recognized—means through which police and other emergency personnel learn that there is someone in a dangerous situation who urgently needs help.”¹ In many such cases, callers identify themselves and are available to provide additional information to responding officers. Not only does this information assist the police in assessing the situation and developing the safest and most effective tactical approach, but an identified caller also helps establish the lawful basis for police action.

Anonymous callers, on the other hand, are not available to provide critical additional information. Thus, determining the proper police response to anonymous emergency calls is more difficult. Furthermore, warrantless, nonconsensual entries into private premises by police officers in response to anonymous calls or reports of an emergency are particularly fraught with legal issues.²Some anonymous calls may be placed maliciously and convey false information for the purpose of harassing, annoying, or retaliating against another. However, the courts have acknowledged that there may be understandable and legitimate reasons for anonymous 911 calls: such calls are distinctive in that they concern contemporaneous emergency events, not general criminal behavior. Additionally, the exigencies of the emergency situations often limit the ability of the caller to convey extraneous details, such as identifying information. Furthermore, some callers, particularly neighbors, may be understandably reticent to give identifying information for fear of retaliation.³

Many 911 calls result in police officers entering a person’s home. A person’s home enjoys the highest levels of protection from government intrusion under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.⁴ The U.S. Supreme Court has emphasized that “physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.”⁵ Thus, the general rule is that “searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable.”⁶ Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has established a few narrowly crafted exceptions to the warrant requirement. These exceptions allow the police to act when “the public interest require[s] some flexibility in the application of the general rule that a valid warrant is a prerequisite for a search.”⁷