POLICY MEMO 3:

Directions: Select ONE of the following scenarios for your memo. Write a One-Page Memo answering the questions. Be concise.

Format: 12 pt font Single Spaced, via Canvas. Citation page will not count against the one-page memo requirement.

Submit this assignment via Canvas at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, 3/27/2019.

Contact the instructor if there are conflicts meeting this requirement (e.g. excused absence). You are expected and required to conduct your own work on this assignment. Citation pages will not count against your page count. Cite your work.

Option 1: Restoring Confidence in the Police Force

Citizens in West Lafayette, Indiana are angry over the recent purchase of 8 M-16 rifles and an armored Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) vehicle from the US Department of Defense 1033 program. There are vocal concerns that the police are becoming too focused on intelligence and militarization, and the City Council is worried that the recent purchases could create a Ferguson-like confrontation.

You are the executive director of a non-governmental organization focused on community oriented policing methods. You have been asked by the City Council of West Lafayette, Indiana to provide a one-page memo on how Community Oriented Policing could be an alternative to the perceived “militarization of the police.”

Provide a one-page memo, with no more than three examples/recommendations/analysis points that demonstrate community oriented policing. Be certain to clearly discuss how community oriented policing differs from other policing methods and models. Be creative (e.g, give yourself a decent name for your NGO, etc.)

Option 2: Secure the Border

Nearly 17 years after 9/11, the general feeling in Washington, DC is that when it comes to the nation’s borders, our politicians cannot come to consensus on what our border policies should be. While the border issues on the US Mexican border are well known (e.g. immigration, smuggling, etc.), border issues on the US Canadian border are not nearly as complex. In fact, some politicians in Congress believe that the US Canadian border should go back to its pre-9/11 border controls—a relatively open border with a long-term, friendly ally.

When policy changes like this are in the air, decision makers often go to a public policy think tank—a non profit research firm dedicated to improving public policy through research—to find out how the policy can be changed. The can also include governmental organizations like the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or Congressional Research Service (CRS). Public policy analysts look at the challenges and issues involved, look at practices from other places, and offer solutions—no matter how controversial.

You are a policy analyst at the Washington DC-based think tank—“Border Watch.” In a one-page brief (not a memo, so no specific person is receiving this memo—similar to the CRS and GAO reports you have read this semester) identify two challenges in securing the US-Canadian border, and offer solutions to those challenges, based on your readings and lecture notes. Provide a title for your brief.

Option 3: Whither Fusion?

You are the Director of the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center, a state operated intelligence center based in the Indiana State Police. Your boss, the governor’s chief of staff, has been asked to give testimony to the state Senate on the value of having a state fusion center.

You have been asked to prepare for the governor’s Chief of Staff a memo on the top two policy questions that you believe he may have to answer from state Senators when giving testimony on why the state fusion center is useful for assisting law enforcement in protecting the state’s homeland security, and to give the Chief a well-reasoned response to those questions.

Use your readings (Randol, Rollins, and text books) to identify the top two policy questions you think he will have to answer from the Senate, and your proposed responses to those questions about the value or use of the state fusion center.