This intelligence guide was prepared in response to requests from
law executives for guidance in intelligence functions
in a post-September 11 world. It will help law
agencies develop or enhance their intelligence capacity and
enable them to fight terrorism and other crimes while preserving
community policing relationships. The world of law
intelligence has changed dramatically since September 11, 2001.
State, local, and tribal law agencies have been
tasked with a variety of new responsibilities; intelligence is
just one. In addition, the intelligence discipline has evolved
significantly in recent years. As these various trends have
merged, increasing numbers of American law agencies
have be to explore, and sometimes embrace, the intelligence
function. This guide is intended to help them in this process.
The guide is directed primarily toward state, local, and tribal
law agencies of all sizes that need to develop or
reinvigorate their intelligence function. Rather than being a
manual to teach a person how to be an intelligence analyst, it is
directed toward that manager, supervisor, or officer who is
assigned to create an intelligence function. It is intended to
provide ideas, definitions, concepts, policies, and resources. It
is a primera place to start on a new managerial journey. Every
law agency in the United States, regardless of agency
size, must have the capacity to understand the implications of
information collection, analysis, and intelligence sharing. Each
agency must have an organized mechanism to receive and manage
intelligence as well as a mechanism to report and share critical
information with other law agencies. In addition, it
is essential that law agencies develop lines of
communication and information-sharing protocols with the private
sector, particularly those related to the critical
infrastructure, as well as with those private entities that are
potential targets of terrorists and criminal enterprises. Not
every agency has the staff or resources to create a formal
intelligence unit, nor is it necessary in smaller agencies. This
document will provide common language and processes to develop
and employ an intelligence capacity in SLTLE agencies across the
United States as well as articulate a uniform understanding of
concepts, issues, and terminology for law
intelligence (LEI). While terrorism issues are currently most
pervasive in the current discussion of LEI, the principles of
intelligence discussed in this document apply beyond terrorism
and include organized crime and entrepreneurial crime of all
forms. Drug trafficking and the associated crime of money
laundering, for example, continue to be a significant challenge
for law . Transnational computer crime, particularly
Internet fraud, identity theft cartels, and global black
marketeering of stolen and counterfeit goods, are entrepreneurial
crime problems that are increasingly being relegated to SLTLE
agencies to investigate simply because of the volume of criminal
incidents. Similarly, local law is being increasingly
drawn into human trafficking and illegal immigration enterprises
and the often associated crimes related to counterfeiting of
official documents, such as passports, visas, driver's licenses,
Social Security cards, and credit cards. All require an
intelligence capacity for SLTLE, as does the continuation of
historical organized crime activities such as auto theft, cargo
theft, and virtually any other scheme that can produce profit for
an organized criminal entity. To be effective, the law
community must interpret intelligence-related
language in a consistent manner. In addition, common standards,
policies, and practices will help expedite intelligence sharing
while at the same time protecting the privacy of citizens and
preserving hard-won community policing relationships.~