| |
The ultimate goal of the law enforcement intelligence unit is to provide all levels of law enforcement agency administrators and managers, within and outside the agency, with an ongoing, timely, complete, and accurate understanding of the criminals and their activities, potential victims, and the environment within which they exist. To achieve this goal, each agency's intelligence manager must ensure that the intelligence is developed to support three critical areas within a law enforcement agency as follows:
| 1. |
Maintaining the law enforcement agency's initiative by proactively identifying and investigating the criminal activity occurring or suspected of occurring within the intelligence manager's area of responsibility. |
| |
|
The law enforcement managers require a through understanding of anticipated and ongoing types and the level of criminal activity occurring in their area of responsibility. Law enforcement management and administration should endeavor to identify any new criminals, criminal groups and associations, and their criminal activities. |
| 2. |
Developing an in-depth understanding and insight into the criminal activities of the known and suspected criminal elements within the intelligence manager's area of responsibility. |
| |
|
The law enforcement administrators and operational managers must be made aware of the various criminal elements and their activities within their area of responsibility. Furthermore, the "courses of action" available to the criminal groups must be identified, developed, and understood. There must also be an understanding of when and where a criminal group is likely to employ one or more of their probable criminal courses of action. |
| 3. |
Reducing the risk of compromise to the law enforcement community by the criminal element. |
| |
|
The criminal element must have no opportunity to compromise law enforcement personnel, plans, equipment, facilities, and operations. Law enforcement administrators and managers must have the assurance that their operational planning and the execution of those plans will not be compromised or subverted in any way. Operational managers must be able to identify confirmed and suspected criminal targets. They must be able to deliver decisive enforcement action against those targets without the possibility that the criminals or suspected criminals may have gained advanced knowledge of the law enforcement agency's intentions. |
By knowing the options available to the criminals and when those options may be employed, the law enforcement community will be ready to respond to the anticipated criminal activity in a timely manner and in an appropriate form. Armed with this knowledge, law enforcement operational unit managers will act more effectively to control the activities of the criminal element, greatly reducing the chance that a potentially dangerous situation will become difficult to control or spiral out of control. With ready access to good intelligence and the ability to plan, law enforcement administrators and operational managers can consistently maximize their limited resources.
|
