With a U.S. Army background, Demetrick Pennie serves as a Dallas Police sergeant and is a strong advocate of the “rule of law” and of officers making decisions that reflect regulations, rather than emotions. In a November 2018 article published in The Blue Magazine, “Upholding the Legacy of 9/11,” Demetrick Pennie brought focus to the way in which those attacks exposed the homeland security infrastructure’s “implicit vulnerabilities.”

Following the attacks, the U.S. Patriot Act was established as a way of streamlining the way in which intelligence agencies coordinate activities. In particular, it allowed for less restricted communications surveillance. In addition, those who enabled or carried out terrorism faced more severe penalties and law enforcement agencies were given more robust resources for uncovering money laundering and financial counterfeiting schemes that enabled terrorism.

From the outset, civil liberties groups were active in challenging U.S. Patriot Act provisions at a constitutional level, and this caused provisions that fit the category of “intrusive surveillance” to be shut down. Despite the fact that the remainder of the policy was widely accepted at the time, controversy has reemerged surrounding the Patriot Act. 

With terrorists not abiding by the same rules as established society and government, the rise of social media has placed new enforcement challenges on the plates of American law enforcement. As Sergeant Pennie describes it, new vulnerabilities must be addressed in a way that go beyond “political tribalism” and provide a distortion-free view of what civil liberties truly entail.