police culture

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Definition

Source and adaptation from: Richard A. Posner, Remaking Domestic Intelligence, Hoover Institute, Sep 8, 2005 accessible at http://www.hooverpress.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1112 and Posner's adaptation at http://www.freedomsadvocate.com/Research/Intelligence%20&%20Interrogation/Richard%20Posner-HD%20-%20The%20Job%20the%20FBI%20Cant%20Do%20-%202006.pdf retrieved 4Apr2008 --
""Criminal investigation is case-oriented, backward-looking, information-hugging and fastidious (for fear of wrecking a prosecution). Intelligence, in contrast, is forward-looking, threat- rather than case-oriented and free-wheeling.""

  • Criminal investigation is case oriented, backward looking, information hugging, and fastidious. Intelligence, in contrast, is forward looking, threat oriented rather than case oriented, and freewheeling.
  • Criminal law enforcement is oriented toward punishment, but punishment cannot undo the consequences of a catastrophic attack.
  • Good police officers learn to think like criminals; good intelligence officers learn to think like terrorists and spies. The hunter must be empathetic with his quarry to catch him, but cops and spies have different quarry.
  • The two worlds of law enforcement and intelligence don't fit comfortably together in the same agency-let alone in the same individual.
  • An agency that is not responsible for bringing criminals to justice can concentrate full time on pursuing terrorists without any of the distractions created by the complex demands of criminal justice.
  • Because of the gravity of threats to national security, intelligence officers must track down any lead, however implausible, that might point to an attack that would endanger national security. Chasing such will-o'-the-wisps is simply alien to the police mentality.