Homeland security challenges for the Washington D.C. police, II

homing in on the tracking device embedded in the stolen cash. Two hours later, the team of officers tracked the robber to a parking lot in northeast Washington, and the image on the BlackBerry allowed them to locate the exact vehicle in that lot containing the perpetrator. They were able to make a quick arrest. “Now apply that to our ability to respond to threats immediately,” she offers.

Fixed and mobile automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) can scan for stolen cars, recently carjacked vehicles or even vehicles belonging to a person of interest who might be coming to Washington to commit crimes or to set up a terrorist attack. Some of these ALPRs are mounted on street sweeping machines. Even a partial tag could tip off the ALPR. When it identifies a stolen car, an ALPR pulls the original arrest report to be presented to the responding officers.

Of the MPD’s top two homeland security priorities, one is that the department does not lose its focus on identifying significant threats to the district. This entails setting intelligence priorities and determining requirements to achieve them.

Lanier says that she views the MPD as the primary security bubble for the district, so the department must articulate its requirements — and the information it needs — well to its federal counterparts. Absent that, these federal agencies may not know just what information the department needs.

The second homeland security priority is to ensure that any information the MPD receives is acted on, one way or another. “We don’t overlook any threat that comes in,” she says. “Every piece of information we get, there is some action taken.”

Those priorities have matured over recent years as the MPD has improved its understanding of the challenge, she notes. Where earlier priorities focused on traditional local law enforcement response, today’s priorities are much more proactive, including predictive analysis. This enables the MPD to identify threats and put into place a plan to deal with them, she emphasizes.

The department’s priorities also have changed with the nature of the global terrorism threat. For example, transportation assets are hugely vulnerable and are a favorite target of terrorists, so local law enforcement throughout the country is focusing on that threat.

A radiological attack would be the most challenging for any municipality to deal with, and Chief Lanier believes that one would have the greatest effect on the city. The MPD, and the city as a whole, are well-prepared to deal with this kind of threat, particularly with the other civil government and military assets available. “If one of those types of attacks were to occur anywhere in the United States, nowhere else has the assets we have that are well-trained and ready,” she states. “But those are the ones you hope never happen. No matter how good we are, there is no good outcome.”

The one thought that keeps her awake at night is the threat that has not occurred to anyone — the failure of imagination as to what may come next. “What is it that we haven’t thought of that could happen?” she asks. “That still scares me because I know it is there.”