This Note was authored by Jason Fritz from our Washington DC office. It is written in the context of increasing militarization of US law enforcement capabilities enabled through direct government funding and gifted equipment. The Note discusses whether and/or how to integrate military equipment into law enforcement organisations in the US, and then proposes a Capability Framework approach to managing and integrating such capability.

Although the US context is different to that in which Australian law enforcement organisations operate, the considerations regarding an operational needs analysis and use of a Capability Framework – with clearly understood and articulated inputs to capability – is relevant to an Australian audience. A Capability Framework approach is relevant to all law enforcement and emergency management organisations. This framework has already been used successfully as the basis for developing capability frameworks for a number of Australian organisations.