The major question that will be answered in the proposal can be formulated as “Why did the tragedy with shooting policemen take place in Dallas in 2016? What were the gaps in Dallas County homeland security and emergency management? What changes both regionally and nationally did take place after the accident and why?”.
This topic is important to consider, as incidents such as tragedy with police officers in Dallas can be regarded as abnormal events that do not comply with the concepts of safety. Thus, the reporters of The Washington Post clearly stated that this event was the most shocking incident after 9/11 (Achenbach, Wan, Berman, & Balingit, 2016).
This tragedy showed that Dallas County homeland security and emergency management had some gaps in their policies and regulations that questioned the effectiveness of these departments.
In this case, it is not enough to introduce policies that react to a negative event, but it is necessary to discover the problems with security and emergency management continuously and introduce effective prevention strategies to avoid these tragedies. Nonetheless, to encourage change, it is vital to gain the support of the federal authorities, as similar accidents and issues with security continue to exist across the country.
The primary benefit of this research is the fact that it will help understand the working mechanisms of the mentioned security departments with the help of the event that took place in Dallas in 2016.
Simultaneously, it will not only discover the governmental actions both at national and regional levels but also view the accident from an analytical perspective by describing cause-and-effect sequences and forming a sufficient base for the development of prevention strategies. To find answers to these questions, the paper will have the following outline: abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, and conclusion.
Introduction
Nowadays, homeland security and emergency management play a critical role in the life of the citizens of the United States of America. These departments ensure safety and offer favorable conditions for the well-being of the population of the country (Sutherland, 2014). Protection is critical since apart from the well-develop judicial system, crimes tend to take place.
Nonetheless, the present framework of homeland security was only recently introduced, and some researchers consider that the 9/11 tragedy was the major trigger for this change (Kahan, 2013). This event made the actions of the security departments more nationally focused while paying particular attention to the threat of terrorism.
Nonetheless, the gaps in this system continued to exist, and this matter is reflected by shooting in Dallas that took place in 2016 (Achenbach et al., 2016). This tragedy also led to some changes in policymaking both regionally and nationally. Thus, this aspect also signified that the government tended to change its decision-making principles and take advantage of a proactive approach by paying attention to prevention strategies.
Consequently, based on the information indicated above, the major research questions of this study can be formulated as “Why did the tragedy with shooting policemen take place in Dallas in 2016? What were the gaps in Dallas County homeland security and emergency management? What changes both regionally and nationally did take place after the accident and why?”.
It could be said that any new policies are usually introduced after any particular social incidents occur. In this case, the examples of events stated above and reactions of homeland security underline the fact that in the majority of the cases, the issue is disregarded until the precedent takes place (Barton & Johns, 2013).
Thus, to understand and develop prevention strategies, it is necessary to define the issues that led to the development of these tragedies (Bjorgo, 2013; Zwitter, 2012).
In this instance, the main purpose of this research paper is to understand the major gaps and issues of Dallas County homeland security and emergency management with the help of the assessment of the tragedy in 2016. Consequently, the key research objectives can be formulated as:
Define the main reasons for the tragedy that took place in Dallas in 2016;
Determine the principal gaps in Dallas County homeland security and emergency management that led to this event;
Understand the changes that took place nationally and internationally as a response to these accidents;
Develop effective prevention strategies and improve their mechanisms to reduce the percentage of similar incidents in the future.
A combination of the factors indicated above will help understand the working mechanism of policymaking and the impact of various social events such as Dallas tragedy on the enhancement of homeland security and emergency management both regionally and nationally.
Simultaneously, using a cause-and-effect analytical approach will help gain profound knowledge of the existent theories and determine a connection between various events and governmental decision-making.
Alternatively, researching and assessing gaps in Dallas County homeland security and emergency management will have a beneficial impact on designing and proposing various prevention strategies that can be actively used by these entities to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Overall, it could be said that this research paper will have a beneficial impact on understand the working mechanism of the departments mentioned above and provide a rationale for pursuing a proactive approach at different governmental levels.
References
Achenbach, J., Wan, W., Berman, M., & Balingit, M. (2016, July 8). Five Dallas police officers were killed by a lone attacker, authorities say. The Washington Post.
Barton, A., & Johns, N. (2013). The policy-making process in the criminal justice system. New York, NY: Routledge.
Bjorgo, T. (2013). Strategies for preventing terrorism. New York: Palgrave McMillan.
Kahan, J. (2013). What’s in a name? The meaning of homeland security. Journal of Homeland Security Education, 1(2), 1-18.
Sutherland, D. (2014). Homeland securities and civil liberties: Preserving America’s way of life. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, & Public Policy, 19(1), 289-508.
Zwitter, A. (2012). Human security, law and the prevention of terrorism. New York, NY: Routledge.