| Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, law enforcement at all levels of government has been tasked with new responsibilities. Over the past decade, the U. S. has experienced numerous acts of terror at home committed by its citizens and legal immigrants. Law enforcement management, especially those in rural areas must now be revolutionized with the same resources as their urban counterparts to confront nascent threats such as violent extremist behaviors. The purpose of the qualitative study was to explore what resources are needed to prepare law enforcement in rural areas of Georgia to confront violent extremist behaviors. The fundamental issue is rural law enforcement management lacks the resources used in urban police departments to counter violent extremist behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify a set of resources that will enhance rural law enforcement leaders' abilities to prepare their officers to confront violent extremist behaviors. The researcher used current scholarly and practitioner works that were analyzed reviewed and summarized. This research used a phenomenological design, and data were collected through face-to-face interviews using semi-structured interview questions. Further, the coding used was a non-hierarchical flat coding. Four major themes and three prominent topics emerged from the analyzed data. The four major themes were: (a) training, (b) finance, (c) management, and (c) community policing. The three prominent topics were: (a) collaboration, (c) fair and impartial policing, and (c) innovative policing. These emergent themes and topics suggested rural law enforcement management along with appropriate federal and state agencies need to implement practical policies that will provide the necessary resources to enhance rural law enforcement national security efforts. |
