WASHINGTON — Local law-enforcement agencies are working to prevent individuals in their communities from acting on extremist views but are calling for additional federal resources to help combat the threat of terrorism, a Senate panel was told Tuesday.
Recent attacks and thwarted plots against European and U.S. cities indicate a rise in homegrown terrorism, where individuals identify with violent Islamic extremism and plot to attack their home countries from within, members of several large-city police departments told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
“No agency knows their landscape better than the local law enforcement,” said Deputy Chief Michael Downing, commanding officer of the Counter Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department. “And we were built and designed to be the eyes and ears of communities or the first preventers of terrorism.”
Seek to encourage tips
Downing said local agencies were working to create an environment that would encourage police tips about suspicious activities. They also have trained officers to track financial transactions and recognize the behavior of potential extremists.
The FBI sponsors more than 100 joint terrorism task forces that include federal, state and local law-enforcement officials, special agent Richard Kolko said. “On these task forces, all officers are treated equally, and all information is shared immediately,” he said.
But some local officials said more could be done to improve coordination.
Local jurisdictions are sometimes excluded in intelligence- sharing out of concern that local officials do not have requisite federal clearances, according to a statement by Maj. Michael Ronczkowski of the Homeland Security Bureau of the Miami-Dade Police Department. Local law-enforcement officials, he said, are far more likely than federal investigators to encounter extremists during routine duties and should be outfitted to handle such situations.
“Just like providing the road officer with the physical equipment necessary and training to perform his duties, they are in need of real-time information that identifies actions or activities of extremists to look for while patrolling,” he said.
Web bolsters beliefs
Mitchell Silber, a senior intelligence analyst with the New York City Police Department, said individuals most vulnerable to radicalization tend to be relatively “unremarkable.” Typically, they are male Muslims between 15 and 35 from varied ethnic backgrounds, he said. Significant proportions are from middle-class backgrounds, and many are educated to at least the high school level.
Even when there is no direct link to overseas terrorist organizations, Silber said, radicalized individuals use groups such as al-Qaeda as their inspiration, interacting with like- minded extremists on the Internet, which serves as a “virtual echo chamber” in reinforcing their newfound beliefs.
Downing said the LAPD had launched a “community mapping” initiative to lay out the geographic location of Muslim populations around Los Angeles and examine their histories, ethnic demographics and socioeconomic standing. The department hopes to identify communities susceptible to extremism and prevent violent ideologies from taking root, he said.
