Analyst Skills: Successful Communication

The Ten Commandments of Good Communication

The American Management Association published the following Ten Commandments of Good Communication. If you put these commandments together with your basic understanding of the communication process itself, you will have a good foundation for building and maintaining an effective set of interpersonal communication skills. The ten commandments of good communication are:

• Clarify your ideas before communicating. Good communication requires good planning. Think through the message and consider who will be receiving and/or affected by it.
• Examine the true purpose of each communication. Ask yourself what you really want to accomplish—obtain information, initiate action, or influence someone’s behavior. Then prepare your message around the objective.
• Consider the total physical and human setting. Meaning and intent are conveyed by more than words. Take into account not only what is to be said, but also the timing, physical setting, and social climate involved.
• Consult with others in planning communications. Allowing others to participate in planning and developing facts can yield useful insights. Those who have helped you plan also have ownership.
  
• Be aware of the overtones as well as the basic content of your message. Your tone of voice, expression, body language, and apparent receptivity to the receiver have a tremendous impact on those you wish to reach.
• Take every opportunity to communicate something of help or value to the receiver. Get in the habit of looking at things from the other person’s point of view. People respond best to managers whose messages take their interests into account.
• Follow up your communication. Ask questions and encourage questions to learn if you have succeeded in expressing your true meaning and intentions. Allow for good feedback in all communications.
• Communicate for tomorrow as well as today. Plan communications to serve immediate needs as well as long-run interests and goals. Remember that postponing disagreeable communications makes them more difficult.
• Be sure your actions support your words. The most persuasive communication is not what you say but what you do. Don’t let actions contradict your words.
• Be a good listener. When we start talking, we often cease to listen. Listening demands that you concentrate on what is being said, and recognize overtones as well as context.

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ETA Blamed For Separate Bomb Attacks in Spain

The Basque separatist terror group ETA has been blamed for two separate bombings in Spain in the last 48 hours. If this is true, it is especially startling considering that they have suffered a number of major setbacks in the last few years. Three of their military commanders were arrested by Spanish authorities in an eight month period during 2008, inflicting a major blow on the organization. ETA, which is pronounced "etta," is a leftist group that conducts terrorist attacks to win independence for a Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Fatherland and Liberty” in the Basque language.

Steve Kingstone, BBC News Madrid correspondent, wrote"This attack is a sobering reminder of ETA's potency, to politicians and commentators who had previously portrayed the group as weakened following a series of high-profile arrests. Those arrests certainly dented ETA's leadership structure, but this attack demonstrates that other militants are willing to step into the shoes of those now in jail. And the quantity of explosives used - almost 300kg, according to Spanish reports - makes clear that the group still has the potential to inflict violence on a large scale. The catalyst for this bombing was the exclusion of separatist parties from regional elections in March. ETA branded the vote "undemocratic," and described members of the resulting Socialist administration as a "priority target." The Socialists ended almost three decades of rule by the Basque Nationalist Party, and have promised renewed vigour in tackling the militants."

• "Spain mourns as Eta mark founding", al Jazeera, 7/31/09.
  
• "Travel Chaos After Mallorca Bomb", BBC News, 7/30/09.
  
• "Spanish Barracks Hit By Car Bomb", BBC News, 7/29/09.
• "Basque Fatherland and Liberty", Council for Foreign Relations, 11/17/08.
• "The End of ETA?" Harvard International Review.
  

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Automated License Plate Scanners

If you are behind the wheel of your car, someone may be on to you. More and more cities are equipping patrolmen, toll booths and even access roads with computer sidekicks that can keep track of vehicle movements; but by doing so, they are not only changing the face of 21st century law enforcement but sparking debate over privacy issues.

Automated license plate recognition systems (ALPRs) mounted in patrol cars, are capable of processing 1,500 license plates a minute, capturing a vast amount of data about the movements of both criminals and law-abiding citizens. For police, ALPRs allow them to solve auto theft cases, pick up wanted felons or monitor the movements of sexual predators. But privacy advocates fear the collected data may be mined for other purposes. For example, one side of a divorce case could potentially look through toll plaza records for circumstantial evidence of adultery.

The scanners are a boon to police work, having an impact that is as significant as the police radio was in the 1950s. "They truly are a force multiplier," says Sgt. Dan Gomez, the officer in charge of Los Angeles Police Department's Tactical Technology Unit. In a typical 10-hour shift, Gomez says, a police officer traditionally could run perhaps 100 license plates through the system — calling the information in or typing into a computer, then waiting for a response. In comparison, says Gomez, the APLR system can process between 2,000 to 2,500 license plate "hits" per patrol car in that same 10-hour shift.

"License Plate Scanners: Fighting Crime or Invading Privacy?", Time, 7/30/09.

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Columbian FARC Rebels May Have Venezuelan Weapons

Shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons purchased by Venezuela have ended up in the hands of guerrillas, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said.

In an interview with Caracol Radio Monday, Santos addressed local reports of anti-tank weapons manufactured in Sweden being seized from members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and traced to Venezuela.

"This is not the first time that this happens," Santos said. "In several operations in which we have recovered weapons from the FARC, we have found powerful munitions and powerful equipment, including anti-tank weapons, from a European country that sold them to Venezuela and that turned up in the hands of the FARC."

• "Venezuela Still Aids Colombia Rebels, New Material Shows", New York Times, 8/2/09.
• "Colombia: FARC weapons traced to Venezuela", CNN, 7/28/09.

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International Association of Women Police Conference

Visit the conference website for registration information.

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Federal government has too many intelligence contractors

The Obama administration and Congress now believe the practice of outsourcing core duties is, at best, undermining the federal workforce and, at worst, harming national security -- an observation also noted by the federal intelligence community.

An internal 2008 staffing review conducted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that contractor employees made up 29 percent of the workforce at the 16 intelligence agencies, but the contractors cost the equivalent of 49 percent of the personnel budget.

These expensive contractors perform support functions like human resources and information technology, but have also been hired to perform crucial mission functions like interrogate prisoners, collect intelligence, and analyze data.

In response to the staffing review, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence passed a 2010 intelligence authorization bill earlier this month that would force agencies to reduce their use of contractors by 5 percent.

"Insourcing Government Intelligence", Oh My Gov! 7/29/09.

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IACP Annual Conference

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has long had a reputation for providing top-notch education on the most pressing law enforcement topics. That is why more than 15,000 law enforcement professionals will be attending the 116th Annual IACP Conference and Exposition in Denver, Colorado, USA from October 3-7, 2009. With renowned keynote speakers, forums and technical workshops, and the largest exhibit hall of products and services for the law enforcement community, this must attend event should be on your calendar.

Visit the conference web page to register or obtain further information.

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Working on an Iris Scan Breatkthrough

Biometric security systems that can identify individuals à la Minority Report based on the unique patterns in their irises have been touted as a fast, accurate and efficient way to control access to sensitive information and facilities. But until now, their reach has literally been limited. The iris's fine texture tends to remain stable throughout one's life. But one of the biggest factors working against iris-scanning biometrics, particularly at law-enforcement facilities and military bases in hot zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan, is the difficulty in obtaining a clear iris scan from a distance of more than a few dozen centimeters.

Researchers are working on this problem by developing technology that will not only enable iris scanning at distances of up to about 12 meters, but will also simultaneously scan a person's face to more accurately identify those seeking access. Iris and facial recognition should be part of the same biometric identification system, says Marios Savvides, a Carnegie Mellon University professor of electrical and computer engineering who directs the school's CyLab Biometrics Lab in Pittsburgh.

Security on the (Eye)Ball: Hands-Free Iris Biometrics to Keep Bad Guys at Bay, Scientific American, 7/28/09.

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2009 National Property Crime Investigations Seminar

What
National Property Crime Investigations Seminar

Why
This seminar is designed for all different types of property crime investigators regardless of their specialized field. Don't miss this opportunity to learn, share and network with professionals who investigate a wide variety of Property Crimes.

When
October 27 & 28, 2009

Where
Gold Coast Hotel & Casino
4000 W. Flamingo Road
Las Vegas, Nevada
Phone: 800-331-5334

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Fusion Centers: Giving cops too much information?

At the time, it seemed one of the unanimous lessons of the tragedy of Sept. 11 — law enforcement agencies at all levels of government have to do a better job of sharing information with each other in order to prevent terror plots. Making that actually happen, of course, is easier said than done, which is why newfangled, multi-organizational agencies were set up to promote cooperation and overcome turf battles. But now critics claim that these so-called fusion centers are making it all too easy for government to collect and share data from numerous public databases.

Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are pushing bills to restrict fusion centers' access to data, most notably in New Mexico, where opponents hope to make government snooping a costly offense. Legislation has been introduced in Santa Fe that would prohibit any New Mexico law enforcement agency from collecting information about the religious, political and social associations of law-abiding New Mexicans. And in what would be a first for the nation, the bill would allow private citizens to sue law enforcement agencies for damages over the unauthorized collection of such data.

Privacy advocates point to a scandal in the state of Maryland, where last summer it was revealed that in 2005 and 2006 undercover members of the Maryland State Police had carried out surveillance of war protesters and death penalty opponents. Some of the intelligence gathered on the subjects, according to logs obtained by the ACLU last summer, may have found its way into databases shared with local, national and federal agencies through the state's fusion center. An investigation found the data collection represented a serious lapse in judgment, but the victims had little recourse, except public outrage.

"The lack of proper legal limits on the new fusion centers not only threatens to undermine fundamental American values, but also threatens to turn them into wasteful and misdirected bureaucracies that, like our federal security agencies before 9/11, won't succeed in their ultimate mission of stopping terrorism and other crime," the national ACLU notes in its report on the centers.

Comment:

• This kind of news gives me heartburn. Like doctors, lawyers, plumbers, and electricians, the vast majority of law enforcement analysts are motivated, trained and ethical professionals. Like these other groups, they occasionally make mistakes, but that's all it is, an occasional mistake!
• I have visited a number of fusion centers and know many analysts that work in them. They do a tremendous job. The country is much safer because of their efforts.
  
• Critics of fusion centers generally have no real idea what it is that they actually do and the hoops that analysts have to jump through to get products created, checked and disseminated. These same critics have their own agendas and the truth can be a casualty.
  
• Fusion centers must comply with regulations, and although a formal code of ethics has not been drawn up, they follow very high standards.
• The times that mistakes are made, it is when the guidelines have not been followed properly. If analysts and their managers would ensure they are followed, and have standard operating procedures in place, then these mistakes will dry up along with the criticism. Intelligence professionals must stick to the rules just like anyone else.

Source:

• "Fusion Centers: Giving Cops too much information?", Time, 3/9/09.
  

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