WHEREAS, state and local police are often the first to respond to a terrorist attack and are most likely to chance encounter individuals involved with terrorist organizations during routine police work; and

WHEREAS, effective anti-drug programs are effective anti-terrorism programs, and evidence indicates that terrorist organizations that are funded in part by the sale of illegal drugs adds a new dimension to the need for the continued investigation of narcotics-related crime; and

WHEREAS, the battle against terrorism must also include an analysis of how the illegal manufacture, sale, and distribution of drugs are increasingly being used to fund terrorists and how the eradication of illicit drugs will provide for the safety of our citizens and eliminate a major source of revenue for terrorists (“National District Attorneys Association, Policy Positions on Drug Control and Enforcement,” Adopted March 20, 2004, available at www.ndaa.org); and

WHEREAS, law enforcement intelligence information may be shared more efficiently through greater use of technology and information sharing programs; and

WHEREAS, information sharing systems such as the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) and the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) assist local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement officers with ready access to information and expertise from a wide range of sources; and

WHEREAS, training is an essential part of expanding the traditional enforcement approach to routine investigative stops by fully exploiting available information sharing systems to ensure that all available information is gathered and shared as part of a national anti-crime and anti-terrorism effort; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED that the International Association of Chiefs of Police strongly encourages all law enforcement agencies to recognize the close relationship between narcotics interdiction and the interdiction of terrorist activities and provide patrol officers with training in the detection of terrorist activities by using the resources of national information sharing systems to identify such activities.