Impact of Terrorism on State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and Criminal Justice Systems in the United States, 2004 (ICPSR 4677)

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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

This study explored the new roles of state and local law enforcement agencies and the changing conditions that came about as a result of the events of September 11. However, the researchers focused particularly on state police for three reasons: (1) historical data and literature about states' operational roles and activities related to terrorism were absent, (2) new terrorism-related activities that may be affecting more traditional and emerging state police priorities needed to be examined, and (3) state police agencies had historically been relatively neglected as the subjects of research and policy work. As state officials seek to improve homeland security, the hope is that results from this project will provide them with a clearer understanding of current conditions and strategic directions for the future.

Study Design View help for Study Design

In order to examine the impact of terrorism on state and local police agencies, a survey instrument was developed by a research team with state and local law enforcement experience. Survey items were developed from scratch since the project's focus was to explore new developments. However, the research team reviewed and utilized several existing surveys related to homeland security to gather ideas about survey structure and wording. The project advisory group reviewed the draft survey in December 2003, and their suggestions were incorporated into the survey before the implementation in 2004. The survey was conducted during the spring of 2004, and it was administered to all state police, highway patrol agencies, and general-purpose state bureaus of investigation. Part 1, State Law Enforcement Agency Data, provides survey responses from a total of 64 agencies. Part 2, Local Law Enforcement Agency Data, contains the results of the survey that was also sent to a sample population of 400 local police and sheriff agencies. Each agency received a survey that contained quantitative and qualitative items. To achieve their response rates, the research team administered a multimodal survey, using mailings and the Internet. Each targeted agency received a mailed questionnaire in January 2004. A Web-based instrument was also developed using Quask software. Respondents had the choice of completing the questionnaire online or by mailing in answers. Four weeks later, the research team mailed a reminder to all agencies with outstanding responses and followed the mailing with phone calls to meet the desired response rates.

Sample View help for Sample

All state police and highway patrol agencies, as well as general-purpose state bureaus of investigation, received the survey, for a total of 73 agencies. The survey was also sent to a sample population of local agencies. The sampling frame for the local survey included a total of 400 police and sheriff's agencies. The 200 largest local agencies were included as well as a sample of 200 other agencies randomly selected from the National Public Safety Information Bureau's directory of law enforcement administrators. Initially, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department was included in the local law enforcement survey. However, the research team omitted its survey response while conducting comparative analysis due to the District of Columbia's unique governmental structure.

Universe View help for Universe

All state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States in 2004.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

For Part 1, state agencies were asked since September 11 how their allocation of resources to 18 operational law enforcement responsibilities had changed, how their relationship with federal agencies had changed across six items, and how their agency's relationship with local law enforcement agencies had changed across nine areas. Additionally, as contrasted with the period before September 11, 2001, agencies were asked how their interaction with 18 specific federal agencies had changed, how their agencies' level of involvement in 17 homeland security initiatives had changed, how the homeland security mission affected individual state officer's or investigator's duties and responsibilities, what degree of impact homeland security had on nine organizational functions in their agency, as well as how their agency's relationship with the private sector had changed over five criteria. Similarly, questions in Part 2 inquired about local law enforcement agencies' allocation of resources to 18 operational law enforcement responsibilities, how their relationship with federal agencies had changed across six categories, how their relationship with state law enforcement agencies had changed across nine items, as well as how their agencies' interactions with 18 specific federal agencies had changed. Furthermore, the survey asked respondents to describe how officers' duties and responsibilities had been altered by the homeland security mission and how their relationship with the private sector had changed in respect to five specific areas.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

The final response rates reported were 83.6 percent for state agencies and 46.6 percent for local agencies. For the two subsets of the local survey, the response rates were 58.5 percent for the 200 largest agencies and 35 percent for the 200 randomly-selected agencies.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2007-07-20

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

Not applicable