The concept of assessment and change is seen throughout history with successful

regimes. At the most basic level, each civilization has needed to reassess values,
principles, and procedures which would take that civilization through to the next
time period. Civilizations that could not change fell, while those that changed and
progressed flourished. In law enforcement especially, we need to consistently
reassess how we do business and make changes in order to provide the best service
to our communities.

Criminal activity hundreds of years ago had similar basic characteristics, yet is
vastly different than today. The similarities lie in one person or group taking
advantage of, taking power over, or destroying completely, another individual or
group. The differences lie in how crime is perpetrated. As an example, for years,
tribes overtook other tribes and either made them perform work as slaves or sold
them to others for the purposes of slavery. Slaves were then transported either by
foot or by ship to where they would serve their new master. Although we would like
to think slavery has been dissolved in the United States, it still survives and thrives
within our borders. Human trafficking is modern slavery. The means and victims
are different, but the basic core of the behavior is the same. Traffickers use the
internet, chat rooms, personal ads, and many other modern resources to lure in
victims. They are able to completely dissolve who that victim was by taking every
bit of identifying information from them. They effectively cut them off from friends
and family, and make them feel they will not survive without the perpetrator. They
use personal fear or fear for family members to hold them captive. They transport
them right under our noses, through our borders and across our states with fake
identification. Slavery today is a high-tech, billion dollar business proposition, with
the risks being well less than the rewards.

Human trafficking is not the only crime that has made advancements through
technology. The marijuana of the 1960s has neem replaced with synthetic
substances barely detectable because of the numerous chemicals used in their
creation, with a wide variety of extremely scary side effects. White collar crime and
cyber-crime costs millions of dollars to combat and ruins lives. Gangs recruit the
youngest of vulnerable children and indoctrinate them into a world of violence,
drugs and crime. Entire communities are being victimized. In the midst of all of this,
law enforcement has come under fire by the media and the communities they were
created to protect due to incorrect information, frustration in the community,
misunderstanding of or misperceptions of an officers intent or thought process, and
a few bad apples in our departments that justifiably should not have been given
the responsibility or power associated with a law enforcement professional. All of
this must be accounted for when we look at assessing our departments and making
substantive changes that will not only allow for the rebuilding of community trust
through transparency and working together, but will also allow us to employ
practices that are as advanced or more advanced than those used by criminals.
In order to combat the modern form of age-long criminal behavior, our agencies
must make assessments of our practices and employ evidence based principles to
our activities to facilitate positive outcomes. To begin this process, we must look at
the core of how our agencies function- a self-assessment if you will- to determine
how to most effectively grow with technology and expectation. In assessing our
agencies, we can look at them using the lenses of metaphor. In viewing the
organization as an organism, we know that each part is important to the whole, and
that severe neglect of one part will eventually have a negative impact on the whole.
We also know that the organization must interact with its environment. Relating
this to agencies, we must ensure that we are paying attention to the organization as
a whole, not just placing resources in areas which are hot button topics. We also
cannot lose sight of how we are being seen by our stakeholders and the
communities we serve. We must have an effective balance between internal and
external pressures and needs.

The second way we must look at our agencies is as a brain which is constantly
working to meet our needs and regulate our functions. The brain looks at things
from a self-preservation and logical standpoint. It makes the basic assessments of
what is needed and can perform complex tasks to meet needs. The brain of the
organization understands best practices and can triage needs. Lastly, we need to
look at the organization as a political being. Every agency has stakeholders that
expect professionalism from law enforcement officers and staff, reduction of
community victimization, proactive arrests and prosecutions, rehabilitative
opportunities for offenders who will eventually reenter the community and ethical
business practices. Agencies must be able to function with political acumen while
performing their duties; agencies must be able to assess the change in political
climate and respond accordingly, to keep officers safe and to satisfy constituents.

Keeping the lenses above in mind, every agency, in order to be successful, must
employ what the Bureau of Justice Assistance calls Intelligence Led Policing,
focusing on key criminal activities, such as the Human Trafficking described above.
Looking at criminal activity from this standpoint, we can discern criminal activity
from intent, and focus on the root of the problem. Using human trafficking as an
example, for years victims of human trafficking for the sex trade, were prosecuted
for prostitution related crimes. Although these victims were exhibiting prostitution
behaviors, the intent was not there- they were forced into prostitution. The root of
this problem, and the actual criminal intent, lies with the traffickers and those who
force the victims into sexual behavior for profit. Agencies should be constantly
reassessing how they are employing their resources keeping the concept of
intelligence led policing at heart to ensure they are really focusing their energy on
the root of the problem to obtain the most positive outcomes with the least resource
expenditure. There is also a cultural change component to this, ensuring that the
generations of officers and staff within the organization understand the reasoning
and concepts behind policy and procedure change. Only through this understanding
can true assessment and cultural change be effectuated.