INTRADEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE August 26, 2011 TO: The Honorable Board of Police Commissioners FROM: Chief of Police SUBJECT: RECOMMENDATION FOR THE POLICE COMMISSION DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL AND THE POLICE COMMISSION UNIT CITATION RECOMMENDED ACTIONS 1. That the Board of Police Commissioners award the Police Commission Distinguished Service Medal for service. Specialist Reserve Officer Renee Greif, Serial No. R6071, Public Information Office 2. That the Board of Police Commissioners award the Police Commission Unit Citation for service. Commander Joan McNamara, Serial No. 23790 (retired) Lieutenant Shannon Paulson, Serial No. 30253, Central Area Detective Maria Rivas, Serial No. 24217, Counter Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau Management Analyst Elizabeth Carrillo, Serial No. N2774 (transferred to Harbor Department) DISCUSSION POLICE COMMISSION DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL SPECIALIST RESERVE OFFICER RENEE GREIF Renee Greif is a Specialist Reserve Officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Her affiliation with the LAPD stems from a heartfelt interest in assisting with the Department's counter-terrorism efforts. In 2007, Renee Greif met with Commander Joan McNamara, Assistant Commanding Officer, Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CTCIB), and expressed her desire to become part of the Los Angeles Police Department's efforts to combat terrorism. As a concerned citizen, former attorney, and someone deeply committed to the welfare and safety of the community, she selflessly offered to dedicate her time to assist CTCIB in their efforts to be leaders in the counter-terrorism field.
Page 2 The Department's goals involved not only the development of new policies and systems that would engage personnel in a way not previously imagined, but would actively involve the community as true partners in the fight against terrorism. Renee Greif has been an indispensable part of both these goals. Although there were no positions available for her at the time, she proactively maintained contact with Commander McNamara. Realizing that she had the dedication and overwhelming desire to make a difference, Renee Greif was brought on board with CTCIB as a Specialist Reserve Officer in January 2008. Renee Greif wasted no time in becoming an integral part of the CTCIB team, joining the Special Projects Unit of CTCIB to work on the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) program. The SAR program is based largely on the core belief that citizens and front line police officers are the ones most likely to recognize unusual or suspicious behavior taking place in their communities, and thus they both play a crucial role in preventing terrorism. Renee Greif understood the importance of this concept and started to immediately assemble a committed group of individuals who shared her vision and unwavering enthusiasm to assist her in getting the Department's message of preventing terrorism to the community. She kept the group focused and their direction steady, even when glitches arose. Her imagination and creativity provided the motivation and leadership needed to keep the group on track. The program has since gained national attention and has been adopted as a best practice model by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, as the standardized and mandated reporting mechanism for suspicious activities potentially related to terrorism. The gathering of information, including previously unreported behaviors, has given counterterrorism investigators the ability to identify patterns of activity and indicators of potential terrorist activity. In the initial stages of the development of the SAR program, she provided invaluable assistance by conducting reviews of the proposals and concepts, bringing the critical eye of a former practicing attorney. Renee Greif conducted comprehensive and exhaustive research on prior terrorist acts that provide historical background on how such acts are carried out. In completing this project, she reviewed hundreds of pages of government reports and biopsies of terrorist events. From this research, the LAPD was able to build a comprehensive database on the types of activities terrorists engage in to prepare for their attacks. This daunting task required her to devote many months of dedication that resulted in CTCIB's ability to develop better terrorism prevention techniques. It also provided invaluable information to the SAR program to enhance its effectiveness as a counter-terrorism program. The Department used a campaign known as "I Watch" to educate the public about the SAR program. An important aspect of this campaign was the production and distribution of a series of public service announcements. Renee Greif was instrumental in facilitating the development and production of these announcements. Her group obtained actors, studio time and production assistance in the form of editing and sound personnel, to produce a series of public service announcements. The amazing part of this accomplishment was that she managed to complete
Page 3 this seemingly insurmountable task with absolutely no funding. This is a testament to her ability to create relationships and get things done. Rene Greif also took the lead on writing a script for, and development of, an 8-minute law enforcement training video designed to provide officers greater situational awareness regarding the SAR and IWatch programs. She sought assistance from several Department entities to create an easy to read flyer that educates the public about terrorism and how to be an observant citizen. She tirelessly researched other community programs in order to educate herself and avoid any legal issues involving copyright infringement. Renee Greif s vast knowledge of the law helped her navigate through the confusion of various codes and regulations. The community outreach program was released officially in October 2009, and was adopted at the national level. Another avenue that the Department pursued in order to provide information to the public was the creation of a Department-based website for the IWatch campaign. This website is a hub for the citizens of Los Angeles to obtain basic terrorism information and to report suspicious terrorism-related activities. Its expansion at the national level has functioned as a site to direct citizens throughout the country to the appropriate law enforcement agency to report possible terrorist activity. Again, Renee Greif was pivotal in designing this website and providing the invaluable guidance regarding legal issues that have arisen. She has maintained a close relationship with the City Attorney's Office to address legal considerations, and has worked to develop funding sources for the completion of the site that include recurring annual costs. Renee Greif has proven that she is a valuable member to the CTCIB team. Without her dedication and work ethic, many of the projects associated with the Department's efforts to improve its terrorism response would have been delayed or shelved altogether. It is recommended that Specialist Reserve Officer Renee Greif be awarded the Police Commission Distinguished Service Medal for distinguishing herself as a leader, public servant, and innovator, as demonstrated by her outstanding performance and exceptional service in the pioneering of the SAR and IWatch programs. POLICE COMMISSION UNIT CITATION COMMANDER JOAN MCNAMARA LIEUTENANT SHANNON PAULSON DETECTIVE MARIA RIVAS MANAGEMENT ANALYST ELIZABETH CARRILLO The role of local police in counter-terrorism efforts has steadily increased in the past seven years. Front-line officers, with their intimate knowledge of their communities and their keen observational skills, have traditionally been thought of as first responders. That perception has changed with the events of 9/11. Policymakers, law enforcement executives and others increasingly called for police to be redefined as "first preventers" of terrorism and the emphasis at the local level shifted from response to prevention. Still, a critical gap existed in the
Page 4 information-sharing cycle. Local police were now being viewed through the lens of national security but were still only receiving crumbs of information from the intelligence table. In August 2007, the leadership of the Los Angeles Police Department's (LAPD) Counter- Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CTCIB) began developing a program with the intent of institutionalizing counter-terrorism throughout the Department, creating a standardized reporting process for information potentially linked to terrorist activity. It also included developing a manner in which to measure the activity to ensure that appropriate or applicable developmental information or intelligence was not being overlooked and that prevention strategies were being developed and put in place based on that information. To engage this process, a small working group was developed that included Commander Joan McNamara, Lieutenant Shannon Paulson, Detective Maria Rivas, and Management Analyst Elizabeth Carrillo. From their efforts sprung the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) process, a program which provides a platform for terrorism related information sharing at the local, regional, and national levels. The SAR program closed the information-sharing gap and adapted the strengths and systems of local police to the threat of terrorism. Rather than relying solely on their federal partners for information, police were now able to paint their own rich picture of what was happening "on the ground" in their communities and decipher the emerging patterns and linkages that required further attention. In a broader sense, the program created an information platform at the local level where none existed before. This platform could then be adopted by police departments nationwide, simply by modifying the ways in which they recognize and report suspicious activities. The uniqueness of the SAR program was that it focused on behaviors and activities, rather than individuals, as potential links to terrorism. This approach was taken in order to ensure that citizens' civil and privacy rights were protected. The 63 behaviors/activities that were selected by the working group as suspicious have historically been linked to pre-operational planning and preparation for terrorist attacks. They include: taking photos, measurements, or drawing diagrams; abandoning suspicious packages or vehicles; and testing security measures. These behaviors and activities, or Modus Operandi, described how a criminal commits his or her crimes. The SAR program also helped to institutionalize counterterrorism activities throughout the LAPD. Front-line officers received training on behaviors and activities with a possible nexus to terrorism. Tasking local law enforcement with the policing of traditional crime and the prevention of terror attacks in their local jurisdictions constituted a dramatic paradigm shift both for the federal government and for the local and state agencies themselves. If this shift in established thought and practice were to be successful, it would require law enforcement agencies nationwide to adopt universal guidelines for effective communication and informationsharing. The LAPD personnel in the working group realized this was far easier said than done. There was no system in place at any level to facilitate this crucial and necessary exchange. The
Page 5 SAR program created and developed by this small working group was to become the LAPD's answer to the problem, and would serve as a national model for the law enforcement community. The key to the SAR program is that the 63 behaviors and activities, and the 74 new premise/ target locations are "coded" using the same type of numbering system the Department employed to track and analyze crime. By creating and assigning numbers, or codes, to the behaviors and premises, terrorist activities could be tracked by date, time and location, just as other crimes are currently tracked. This simple coding tool created a common language that mirrors the Uniform Crime Reporting system and enables data to be shared vertically and horizontally among local, state and federal agencies. With the wealth of new information, the LAPD is able to track various types of suspicious behaviors and activities, pinpoint where they are happening, and present that information in various forms such as maps and graphs. Furthermore, it also provides the ability to eliminate information that does not have a direct nexus to terrorism, but may have a correlation to crime, and funnel it properly to the correct investigative entity. The Department could now put a focus on patterns of activity that warranted further attention within Los Angeles, as well as in other cities across the nation. This has led to more informed discussions with all law enforcement partners, particularly those at the federal level. On the local level, the SAR program has engaged the LAPD's 13,000 sworn and civilian personnel in the fight against terrorism and has institutionalized counterterrorism efforts throughout the Department. On the national level, the program paved the way for a national implementation plan as other departments have taken the LAPD blueprint and adopted it. A national SAR roll-out was preceded by the implementation of the program in the LAPD. Research and development was essentially completed by the end of 2007. This led the way for SAR implementation throughout the Department. The goal was to introduce SAR in phases, beginning with the creation of a Department-wide policy mandating that front-line officers complete a SAR when they become aware of information with a possible nexus to terrorism. Special Order No. 11, dated March 5,2008 Reporting Incidents Potentially Related to Foreign or Domestic Terrorism, was accompanied by a comprehensive training curriculum that instructed officers on the policy and the scope of their new responsibilities. An E-Learning course introduced officers to SAR, provided them with a general overview of terrorism, and detailed the behaviors and activities that they were responsible for reporting. Police officers were also given notebook dividers that provided them with a quick reference to those 63 suspicious behaviors. This, in turn, was followed by both in-service training and roll call training, which helped ensure standardization of the process. In recognition of the vital and sensitive nature of SARs, the working group also designed a processing policy to ensure the expeditious delivery of the information to the appropriate investigative entities. From the inception of the SAR program, the LAPD leadership stressed the importance of protecting civil liberties and an individual's Constitutional rights. Throughout the SAR development phase, the working group consulted with the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office to ensure that these rights were protected. Specific roll call training emphasizes that
Page 6 officers must abide by an individual's right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and reasonable suspicion must be met in order to detain someone. In the absence of reasonable suspicion, the officer can initiate a consensual encounter to investigate, but a person is free to leave if he or she chooses. Completion or investigation of a SAR gives an officer no additional or "special" powers. From the start, the focus of the SAR program has been solely based on behavior, not on a person's ethnicity, race, national origin, gender or religion. The ultimate goal of any counter-terrorism system or organization must be to provide intelligence to identify patterns and linkages, and to support knowledgeable decision-making at both the strategic and operational level. Properly gathered information, coupled with timely and accurate analysis, results in intelligence. The insertion of the SAR process into this cycle at the local level will produce investigative leads critical to determining or identifying emerging patterns or spikes in terrorism-related activity and assist in identifying potential preventative measures. It will also provide a statistical foundation for managing and directing the deployment and allocation of resources, ensuring relentless follow-through and accountability. Combined, these elements will contribute to what must be the ultimate goal of law enforcement in the realm of counter-terrorism the potential for the prediction, and thus prevention, of future activities and attacks by foreign or domestic terrorists. The efforts of Commander Joan McNamara, Lieutenant Shannon Paulson, Detective Maria Rivas, and Management Analyst Elizabeth Carrillo have paved the way for civilian law enforcement personnel to become a valuable asset in the fight against terrorism. Through their hard work, ingenuity, dedication, and ability to "see the big picture," this new system was born, and subsequently gained momentum as a national model for successful implementation of a counterterrorism system. Should you have any questions, please contact Police Administrator II Gloria Grube, Commanding Officer, Personnel Group, at (213) 486-4720. Res tfully CHARLI Chief of