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Los Angeles Barrier Against Terrorism

NCJ Number
116042
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1989) Pages: 63
Author(s)
D F Gates
Date Published
1989
Length
1 page
Annotation
This essay explores challenges to law enforcement managers posed by international terrorism and describes one response: the interagency task force concept as exemplified by the Los Angeles Task Force on Terrorism (LATFOT).
Abstract
Formed in 1986 and formalized in a Memorandum of Agreement, LATFOT includes the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the FBI as lead agency. Terrorism by the Soythians and Romans is contrasted to the advanced technology used by modern terrorists. The task force concept has allowed law enforcement to make substantial progress in overcoming jurisdictional impediments to countering hit and run terrorist tactics so effective in the 1960s and 1970s. Benefits that LATFOT brings to participating agencies are described, particularly the cooperative use of resources and intelligence. For example, the police receive information on a national scale and the FBI gains access to street information collected by the police. The author emphasizes that terrorist acts are not random, but are methodically planned. Consequently, the combined efforts of law enforcement can penetrate the terrorism underworld.