| Many claims have been made about how the events of September 11 have thrust American policing into a new era, one wherein homeland security is the dominant strategy. To explore such claims, 208 Texas police chiefs were surveyed concerning their perceptions of homeland security as a strategy for local law enforcement as well as the level of homeland security initiatives present in their respective departments. Through regression analyses, the factors that influenced those perceptions and initiatives were also examined.;The findings revealed that, while the majority of chiefs felt that homeland security had become the dominant strategy of the police institution, few believed that homeland security had become the overriding strategy of their respective departments. Further, regression analyses suggested that federal collaboration, preparedness, and threat perceptions were predictive of homeland security perceptions. Regarding department size, chiefs of very small departments were more likely to report homeland security as their dominant strategy in relation to chiefs of larger departments. Concerning the levels of initiatives, the primary finding indicated that funding was the strongest predictor.;Though specific hypotheses were not directly tested, three theories of organizational change---contingency theory, institutional theory, and resource dependency theory---were applied to provide a theoretical backdrop for the discussion of the police institution possibly shifting toward homeland security, with the findings indicating the strongest support for institutional and resource dependency theory.;Keywords. Policing, Homeland Security, Terrorism, Police Chiefs, Perceptions, Attitudes, Preparedness, Collaboration, Contingency Theory, Institutional Theory, Resource Dependency Theory, Organizational Change. |
