United States. Department Of Homeland Security. Office Of Inspector General

From the document: "The United States Secret Service (Secret Service) planned and conducted protective operations at several sites on January 6, 2021, including the Capitol, and took actions to assist the United States Capitol Police (USCP). We initiated this review to evaluate the Secret Service's preparation for, and response to, the events of January 6, 2021. [...] We conducted this review to evaluate the Secret Service's preparation for, and response to, the events of January 6, 2021. [...] We made six recommendations to improve the Secret Service's policies and processes for planning and responding to similar events."

United States. Department Of Homeland Security. Office Of Inspector General . 31 Jul, 2024 .

By Robles, Nicolas M.; Alhajjar, Elie; Geneson, Jessie; Moon, Alvin; Adams, Christopher Scott; Leuschner, Kristin; Steier, Joshua

From the webpage description: "Building on research on quantum machine learning, researchers investigated the effect of quantum-enhanced artificial intelligence within the context of the six U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) missions. For each mission, the authors illustrate how quantum boosts could help DHS perform its computational duties more efficiently. They also explain some situations in which quantum computing does not provide benefits over classical computing. Last, they provide recommendations to DHS on how to leverage quantum computing. This paper should be of interest to policymakers, researchers, and others working on quantum computing or artificial intelligence."

RAND CORPORATION. 27 AUG, 2024.

By United States. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency

The following passage from the document contains multiple links embedded in the text: "The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) conducts Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (RVAs) for the federal civilian executive branch (FCEB), high priority private and public sector critical infrastructure (CI) operators, and select state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) stakeholders. Concurrently, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) conducts RVAs on maritime CI operated by SLTT and private-sector organizations. The RVA is intended to assess the entity's network capabilities and network defenses against known threats. In Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), CISA and the USCG conducted a combined total of '143' RVAs across multiple CI sectors. [...] The goal of the RVA analysis is to develop effective strategies to improve the security posture of FCEB, CI, maritime, and SLTT stakeholders. During each RVA, CISA and the USCG collect data through remote and onsite actions. This data is combined with national threat and vulnerability information to provide organizations with actionable remediation recommendations prioritized by risk of compromise. CISA designed RVAs to identify vulnerabilities threat actors could exploit to compromise network security controls. After completing an RVA, CISA and the USCG provide the assessed entity a final report that includes recommendations, specific findings, potential mitigations, and technical attack path details. The FY23 reports provided these general observations: [1] Assessors completed their most successful attacks via common methods, such as phishing, valid accounts, and default credentials. [2] Assessors used a variety of tools and techniques CISA has captured in previous RVA analyses to successfully conduct common attacks. [3] Many organizations across varying CI sectors exhibited the same vulnerabilities. [4] CISA assessment personnel used common vulnerabilities facilitated by shortcomings in secure by design and default principles and other misconfigurations to compromise systems."

UNITED STATES. Government. Washington DC. SEP, 2024. 24p.

By SHEYLA A. DELGADO, GINA MORENO, FIDEL OSORIO, RICHARD ESPINOBARROS, JEFFREY A. BUTTS JOHN JAY COLLEGE RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CENTER

Researchers at the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center (JohnJayREC) investigated transit fare evasion in subway stations and station complexes throughout New York City between 2018 and 2023. The study was conducted as part of the New York City Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan, overseen by the New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ). The research team analyzed associations between fare evasion and arrests reported by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and considered the social and economic characteristics of the neighborhoods surrounding each transit station. The study found no statistically significant associations between fare evasion enforcements and total arrests for felonies and misdemeanors. Fare evasion enforcement, however, was most prevalent in stations whose neighborhoods were characterized by high socioeconomic disadvantage. The statistical interaction of crime rates, fare evasion enforcement, and socioeconomic disadvantage underscores the role of social factors in public safety.

New York: JOHN JAY COLLEGE RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CENTER, 2024. 15p.

KOVALCIKOVA, NAD'A; FILIPOVA, RUMENA VALENTINOVA, 1989-; HOGEVEEN, BART; KARÁSKOVÁ, IVANA; PAWLAK, PATRYK; SALVI, ANDREA

From the document: "This 'Chaillot Paper' delves into the phenomenon of foreign interference and the risk it poses to democratic societies. It explores the interplay between information manipulation and disruptive cyber operations, revealing their role as complementary components within a broader strategy. Dedicated chapters examine how interference manifests across various sectors, including social, political, economic, digital and security domains, describing existing tools and evolving policy responses. Each case study follows a clear structure, presenting an incident, its effects and the implemented responses. The volume concludes by identifying convergences and divergences across the cases studied, and highlights foreign interference as a critical and growing threat to global security. It offers targeted recommendations on how the EU can significantly bolster its defences and resilience against this threat."

INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY STUDIES (PARIS, FRANCE). AUG, 2024. 67p.

DREXEL, BILL; WITHERS, CALEB

From the document: "In 2020, COVID-19 brought the world to its knees, with nearly 29 million estimated deaths, acute social and political disruptions, and vast economic fallout. However, the event's impact could have been far worse if the virus had been more lethal, more transmissible, or both. For decades, experts have warned that humanity is entering an era of potential catastrophic pandemics that would make COVID-19 appear mild in comparison. History is well acquainted with such instances, not least the 1918 Spanish Flu, the Black Death, and the Plague of Justinian--each of which would have dwarfed COVID-19's deaths if scaled to today's populations. Equally concerning, many experts have sounded alarms of possible deliberate bioattacks in the years ahead. [...] This report aims to clearly assess AI's impact on the risks of biocatastrophe. It first considers the history and existing risk landscape in American biosecurity independent of AI disruptions. Drawing on a sister report, 'Catalyzing Crisis: A Primer on Artificial Intelligence, Catastrophes, and National Security,' this study then considers how AI is impacting biorisks across four dimensions of AI safety: new capabilities, technical challenges, integration into complex systems, and conditions of AI development. Building on this analysis, the report identifies areas of future capability development that may substantially alter the risks of large-scale biological catastrophes worthy of monitoring as the technology continues to evolve. Finally, the report recommends actionable steps for policymakers to address current and near-term risks of biocatastrophes."

CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SECURITY. 2024.

A GOSWAMI, ARCHISHMAN

From the document: "This paper examines the role that national intelligence agencies may play in helping to secure critical technology supply chains. As the race for scientific advantage becomes increasingly characteristic of national security concerns amid growing multipolarity and interstate competition, national intelligence agencies are paying greater attention to the security of critical and emerging technologies. This paper analyses how intelligence agencies may work and adapt in relation to the specific challenges posed by this issue. The analysis is divided into sections on intelligence (examining the broadening of intelligence-gathering horizons and the likelihood of ally-on-ally espionage); counterintelligence (focused on insider threats from within the private sector); and covert action (assessing the potential for paramilitary action and offensive cyber to achieve kinetic effect vis-à-vis a competitor's supply chains)."

OBSERVER RESEARCH FOUNDATION., 2024. 23p.

By Ferhat Tura, James Hunter, Rebecca Thompson and Andromachi Tseloni

This article presents a comprehensive methodology aimed at assessing the commitment of police forces in England and Wales to problem-oriented policing (POP). By evaluating various policing styles and their adoption, the study seeks to provide a clearer understanding of how these approaches impact community relations and crime reduction. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis, the authors identify key indicators of POP implementation and offer insights into the factors influencing its effectiveness. This exploration not only contributes to academic discourse on policing strategies but also serves as a practical guide for law enforcement agencies striving to enhance their community engagement and operational efficiency.

Oxford University Press, 2022, 14 pages

United States. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency; United States. Federal Bureau Of Investigation; United States. Election Assistance Commission; United States. Department Of Homeland Security

From the document: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) prepared this overview to help partners defend against insider threat concerns that could materialize during the 2024 election cycle. For years, federal, state, local, and private sector partners nationwide have worked closely together to support state and local officials in safeguarding election infrastructure from cyber, physical, and insider threats. Because of these efforts, there is no evidence that malicious actors changed, altered, or deleted votes or had any impact on the outcome of elections. Over the past several years, the election infrastructure community has experienced multiple instances of election system access control compromises conducted by insider threats. While there is no evidence that malicious actors impacted election outcomes, it is important that election stakeholders at all levels are aware of the risks posed by insider threats and the steps that they can take to identify and mitigate these threats. This document outlines several recent examples of election security-related insider threats, discusses potential scenarios that could arise during the 2024 election cycle, and provides recommendations for how to mitigate the risk posed by insider threats."

United States. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency; , et al. 2024. 9p

United States. Department Of Justice. Office Of The Inspector General.

From the document: "The Department of Justice (Department or DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) undertook this review to examine the Department's and its law enforcement components' roles and responsibilities in responding to protest activity and civil unrest in Washington, D.C., between May 29 and June 6, 2020, following the murder of George Floyd on May 25. The report details the relevant events involving DOJ and its components during this time period, including their assistance to the U.S. Park Police (USPP) and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) in and around Lafayette Park in connection with USPP and USSS plans to construct a fence on H Street after violence had erupted during protests on May 29; meetings attended by then Attorney General William Barr and other DOJ officials at the White House on June 1; Barr's involvement in the events at Lafayette Park on June 1; and DOJ's deployment of its law enforcement personnel on June 1 and on subsequent days. Thereafter we describe our analysis of these events, including whether Barr affected the timing of the clearing operation at Lafayette Park on June 1."

United States. Department Of Justice. Office Of The Inspector General. Jul, 2024. 168p.

Pechtol, Colby; Gallagher, Jill C.

The following passage from the document contains multiple links embedded in the text: "On July 19, 2024, CrowdStrike, a U.S. cybersecurity firm, released a software update to their customers. The update caused certain systems to crash, disrupting services across several industries, including airlines, banks, hospitals, government agencies, and public safety systems. CrowdStrike reported that the incident was caused by 'a defect found in a single content update of its software on Microsoft Windows operating systems' and was not a cyberattack. Though the update affected less than 1% of all Windows machines, the impacts were widespread and global. The incident illustrates the vulnerabilities of information technology (IT) systems, increased dependence and risks in relying on third-party vendors for critical IT services, and lack of protocols and backup systems in the event of IT system failures. This In Focus discusses the incident's impact on certain U.S. public safety communications systems and services."

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE. 26 JUL, 2024.. 3p.

by Rana Sampson

Abstract: In the early 1990s, American policing, applying a problemoriented approach, displayed much creative energy in closing drug markets. This has not translated to a under range of quality efforts in tackling other common crimes, such as burglary, auto theft, and shoplifting. While few of the factors that combined to fuel wide exploration of creative solutions in drug markets are present for other crime and safety problems, there may be some simple ways to engage the police to further study and target other crimes. Three strategies are offered: identifying, understanding, and responding to snowball crimes; using a situational crime prevention approach to graded responses for repeat victimization; and examining privately-owned properties for disproportionate demands on police service with an eye towards shifting responsibility for crime-place management to these owners.

Crime Prevention Studies, vol. 15 (2003), pp. 239-256..

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

NCHRP Research Report 1111/BTSCRP Research Report 12 presents a toolbox to help highway safety practitioners diagnose contributing factors leading to crashes for use in selecting appropriate countermeasures. To develop this toolbox, the research team conducted a systematic literature review; developed comprehensive evaluation and analysis procedures, methods, and tools; and conducted a workshop to demonstrate the use of the draft toolbox to receive feedback from practitioners. This publication will be of interest to state departments of transportation and other stakeholders concerned with diagnosing contributing factors leading to crashes for use in selecting appropriate countermeasures.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27890.

By Rachel Boba a and John P. Crank

Problem-oriented policing (POP) has emerged as a fertile area of innovative police research and practice. Its core ideas have existed for over 20 years; however, research suggests that POP has been routinized into the practice of few police departments. This paper argues that POP has not gained widespread adoption because of the inclination to make line officers the central actors in POP’s implementation. It presents an integrated model reconsidering how problems are defined, analysis is used, and how problem-solving accountability is distributed throughout an organization and builds upon the strengths of traditional policing – information-gathering, centralized command, and accountability structure.

Routledge. Police Practice and Research Vol. 9, No. 5, December 2008, 379–393

By Adrian Leigh, Tim Read and Nick Tilley

Much police work is incident-driven and officers frequently find themselves returning to deal with similar or related incidents they or their colleagues have faced in the past. The concept of Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) is about examining patterns of incident clusters to identify and tackle underlying problems within the community. The active involvement of the community and external agencies is often vital to the identification of problems and the development of strategies to solve them. The originator of the concept, Herman Goldstein, believes that the whole of the police service needs to be oriented to problems. The perceived benefits of POP include:

• a better-served public whose concerns are attended to at source;

• officers with enhanced job satisfaction from bringing the public real benefits; and,

• more manageable demands on the police because underlying problems are solved, reducing repeat calls.

Since POP was first proposed in 1979, it has been widely adopted in the United States. There have also been a number of efforts to implement it in England and Wales. Despite overlooking some elements of POP proposed by Goldstein, past initiatives have been labelled Problem-Oriented Policing because they have taken on board his most important tenet: that officers should tackle the root cause of related incidents, rather than repeatedly returning to them. Whilst forces have adopted a variety of approaches, most initiatives have been relatively small-scale and have affected only a small number of dedicated officers. All have recorded mixed success, although none has established a formal means by which to assess outcomes. In particular, none of the past POP initiatives in England and Wales has adopted a formal and systematic model linking incident identification and analysis with the construction of responses and subsequent assessment of the actions taken. At the time of writing, both Surrey and Thames Valley were intending to introduce POP on a much wider scale and in a form closer to that originally proposed by Goldstein.

London Home Office. Crime Detection and Prevention Series Paper 75. 1996. 72p.

David Weisburd

Problem-oriented policing has garnered a great deal of attention since it was first proposed by Herman Goldstein in 1979. The core of the model is a shift from police operating in a reactive, incident driven way (primarily responding to calls for service) to a model that requires the police to be proactive in identifying underlying problems that can be targeted to alleviate crime and disorder at their roots. Problem-oriented policing can be thought of as a process rather than a specific intervention. As such, problem-oriented policing can work independently or simultaneously with other modern policing innovations (hot spots policing, focused deterrence etc…) to address problems of crime and disorder. While the ability of problem-oriented policing to target an array of different issues makes it widely applicable, the plethora of different interventions that may qualify as problem-oriented policing make generalizing research on its effect difficult. The current study will provide an updated systematic review of the effectiveness of problem-oriented policing in reducing crime and disorder. An earlier Campbell review by three of the same authors covered studies published through 2006 (Weisburd, Telep, Hinkle & Eck, 2008; 2010); this updated review will add studies published from 2006 to 2018.

The Campbell Collaboration. 2019. 42p.

Gary Cordner, Elizabeth Biebel

Problem-oriented policing was first introduced in an article by Herman Goldstein in 1979. It was formally field-tested in the 1980s in Baltimore County (Cordner, 1986) and Newport News (Eck and Spelman, 1987), given a wider audience through an Atlantic Monthly magazine article in 1989 (Wilson and Kelling), and systematically described and explained in Goldstein's 1990 book. Today, it is widely regarded as the most analytical and intellectually challenging strategy in the police arsenal.

Questions linger, however, about the implementation and practicality of problemoriented policing (POP). The SARA process (scanning, analysis, response, assessment) for carrying out POP is analytically and creatively demanding, as well as time-consuming. Some observers question whether police have the knowledge and skill to implement the SARA process properly. Police officers often question whether they have the time to do so.

The research reported here carefully examined problem-oriented policing in practice by ordinary police officers in one agency - the San Diego, California Police Department. The objective was to discover and describe the reality of everyday, streetlevel POP as practiced by generalist patrol officers. San Diego was chosen because of its reputation as a national leader in problem-oriented policing.

U.S. Department of Justice.. 2003. 28p.

By Gloria Laycock

This guide is about embedding POP in your organisation. It is written primarily for senior officers and managers and is intended to complement a sister guide on problem-solving in practice. This guide is not a step-by-step manual - there is no single road to or recipe for implementing POP. Instead, what follows is a review of what is known about implementing and sustaining POP, with recommended resources provided at the end. The guide has three parts. The first part outlines the core features of POP. The second part makes the business case for POP as an operating model for contemporary policing. The third part discusses three conditions conducive to the successful implementation of POP – leadership, understanding and infrastructure – and provides examples of good and poor practice. The guide ends with a self-assessment tool to help you determine your organisation’s readiness for and progress in implementing POP.

London. College of Policing. 2020. 26p.

By Runnymede Trust

Summary ● New Home Office data and a government consultation has enabled the Runnymede Trust to explore the use of strip search by the police, and its impact on people of colour in the UK. ● Black people are subject to disproportionate rates of strip search across all police forces in England and Wales: ○ Black children are 6.5 times more likely than white children, and Black adults 4.7 times more likely than white adults, to be strip searched by police. ○ In London, Black children are 5.3 times more likely than white children, and Black adults 3.5 times more likely than white adults, to be strip searched by police. ○ Nearly half (47.7 per cent) of strip searches carried out on children in London are on Black children. ● The Metropolitan Police conducted around a third of strip searches in England and Wales in the year to March 2023. ● Evidence illustrates the disproportionate, racialised harm caused by strip searches. ● Instead of using heavy police powers such as strip search, and in the context of wider punitive policing and curtailment of rights, the Runnymede Trust calls for a societal reorientation to address the root causes of criminalised behaviour, to actually prevent harm.

London: The Runnymede Trust, 2024. 10p.

Michael S. Scott.

Abstract: Police agencies have, for the most part, not yet integrated the principles and methods of problem-oriented policing into their routine operations. This is so for several reasons. First, many police officials lack a complete understanding of the basic elements of problemoriented policing and how problem solving fits in the context of the whole police function. Second, the police have not yet adequately developed the skill sets and knowledge bases to support problemoriented policing. And third, the police have insufficient incentives to take problem-oriented policing seriously. This paper begins by articulating what full integration of problem-oriented policing into routine police operations might look like. It then presents one framework for integrating the principles and methods of problem-oriented policing into the whole police function. The paper then explores the particular skill sets and knowledge bases that will be essential to the practice of problem-oriented policing within police agencies and across the police profession. Finally, it explores the perspectives of those who critically evaluate police performance, and considers ways to modify those perspectives and expectations consistent with problem-oriented policing.

Crime Prevention Studies. Vol. 15. 2003. pp. 48-97