Early Detection for Prevention

In the wake of the large-scale and coordinated terrorist attacks in #Paris, many people are left wondering, how can we keep ourselves safe?

While there is no sure-fire way to prevent every terrorist attack or actor with malicious intent, one thing is clear – early detection through heightened awareness training can serve as the best tool for prevention.

SDR® Academy trains its clients in a methodology which focuses on effective prevention rather than reaction to particular events. The SDR® training uses behavioral indicators which take into account environmental factors which will influence what the methodology deems as “normal” or “abnormal” behaviors for a given environment. The training is nuanced and most importantly underscores the need for each individual to have heightened awareness of their particular surroundings to better understand what is going on around them.

Through a better understanding of one’s own environment, each individual is able to make a series of decisions and scan an area, taking note of behaviors which may or may not be atypical for a given situation. This training can assist local security officers in identifying actors with the potential for malicious intent during the planning and reconnaissance stages of large-scale attacks. Although the actors in the recent terror attacks may fit a particular profile of radicalization efforts, it is important that our security training mechanisms do not simply profile for one specific actor or characteristic, if we do that, we are sure to miss the potential actors of the future. 

Power of the People and Social Media

Recent technological developments and the age of social media where “safety checks” on Facebook are growing to become the norm in the wake of natural disasters or terrorist incidents, highlights the power of the people and of crowdsourcing information.

SDR® Academy is launching a new application called WeAware+™ which will bolster the power of the crowd and help to create a cloud-based system of safety and security information. WeAware+™ will give local citizens the ability to input information onto the system and in real-time notify other users of security threats in their local areas. Not only will alerts go out to local individuals on the app, but local law enforcement agencies will also be monitoring the system and will be ready to act upon any corroborated information. The WeAware+™ application will minimize the gap in the time it takes for information to be disseminated and used by those who need it, and could potentially be the difference between prevention of an event and reaction to one.

Through harnessing the power of the individual and aggregating information onto the system, the application will become stronger with each and every user, simultaneously strengthening the security and safety environment in one’s local area. Furthermore, WeAware+™ will ameliorate the relationship between local communities and the law enforcements officers who serve in their areas. Through blending the resources of security professionals with the heightened awareness of each individual system, WeAware+™ will create a safer and more cohesive security atmosphere for all.

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD RECEIVE SECURITY TRAINING

Most people associate the term security training with the various initiatives taken on by safety and security personnel in efforts to keep specific areas safe. But what about the various initiatives community members can take on in order to keep their entire community safe?

What many people overlook is how vital it is for all individuals to have heightened awareness tools. Last week, the central hall of Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was evacuated when a suspicious package was discovered in one of the hospital bathrooms. This incident underscores the need for all community members to receive a certain extent of training in order to assist in keeping their environments safe. Not only should security officials be trained to see and understand their surroundings, but so too should the general public, such as the janitorial staff of a hospital, clerks in a mall, a local citizen shopping in their neighborhood grocery store, etc.

SDR® Academy is a proactive security method and philosophy that focuses on effective prevention rather than reaction. SDR® training gives users the tools they need to detect deviant behaviors and illicit intentions before they become harmful actions. The operational tools that make up the SDR® methodology are applicable in any and every environment. SDR® training is not a one-size-fits-all technique; we develop tailor-made training programs for each client. The constant that SDR® training delivers to all clients, is the ability to heighten human awareness. Awareness is the key to prevention, whether on the part of hospital staff members, a local citizen walking in their neighborhood, or a security officer monitoring a crowd. SDR® brings the ability to better understand one’s surroundings and what constitutes normal or abnormal behaviors in any given environment. Making this training universal will only serve to improve how we respond and attend to potential security threats in the future.

FERGUSON AFTER-ACTION ASSESSMENT

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

The United States Department of Justice recently released the “After-Action Assessment of the Police Response to the August 2014 Demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri.” This governmental evaluation provides insights into the lessons learned concerning the regional police response to the mass demonstrations that followed the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri one year ago.

Six key themes emerged regarding the police response during the first wave of the protests:

• Inconsistent leadership
• Failure to understand endemic problems in the community
• A reactive rather than proactive strategy
• Inadequate communication and information sharing
• Use of ineffective and inappropriate strategies and tactics
• Lack of law enforcement response continuity

Ferguson riots, August 2014.

The report details 48 findings and reviews more than 100 lessons learned as a result of the findings. The importance of these findings and the lessons learned should weigh heavily on law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The memory of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown last summer, and the many similar incidents since, still resonates acutely throughout the United States. Unrest on the anniversary of the events in Ferguson resurfaced and again pushed the issues between local law enforcement and the communities in which they serve to the forefront of the news.

HOW CAN WE FIX WHAT IS BROKEN?

The national implications are amongst the most important considerations contained in the report. “History informs that a critical incident can happen anywhere and at any time. With this knowledge, law enforcement must always remember that the ability to respond to an incident effectively is formulated long before an incident occurs through investments in leadership, community engagement, training, and communication. Ferguson is a vivid reminder that law enforcement agencies must continually analyze their policing practices in relation to the communities they serve” (xxii, “After-Action Assessment of the Police Response to the August 2014 Demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri”).

Remedying the mistakes of the past requires local safety, security, and policing agencies to address the findings of this after-action report and truly analyze their practices. SDR® Academy’s methodology and trainings address many of the key themes presented in the Ferguson report.

SDR® equips its trainees with the tools they need to better understand their environments and heighten their awareness, thereby providing them with the nuanced capability to distinguish when a person’s behavior signifies a potential threat, and when it does not. Such nuanced understanding, along with SDR® communication skills can prevent both false positives and false negatives. The SDR® trainings are based on local behavioral indicators and operational auto-critique tools which negate discriminatory ethnic profiling in policing.

Furthermore, SDR® focuses on proactive prevention of – rather than reaction to – harmful events and security threats. Proactive prevention in the SDR® methodology and training highlights the importance of making knowledge-based decisions rather than simply relying on pre-emptive measures that often rely on knee-jerk reactions (often influenced by individuals’ biases). The unique operational tools learned through SDR® training allow trainees to better understand human behaviors, focusing on behavioral abnormalities and therefore inherently negating ethnic profiling. In this way, SDR® is working towards bridging the gap between conventional policing and the communities these agencies serve. Proper training of students how to differentiate between actionable behaviors and innocuous ones is at the core of SDR®.

By restoring the trust between the community and the local police force, SDR® also promotes social cohesion, ameliorating the overall safety environment in a given area. The population must feel that they can turn to their local law enforcement without fear of bias, trusting them to act according to ethical guidelines and local laws, procedures, and protocols.

In the wake of Ferguson and other similar events that transpired this year, policing practices need to change. They must incorporate the findings of the after-action report recently released, and perhaps look to incorporate new trainings and procedures to improve the state of the art.

How Heightened Awareness Can Make All the Difference

On August 22, a high-speed train en route from Amsterdam to Paris nearly suffered a catastrophic end as an Islamist gunmen (believed to have ties to IS), boarded the train armed with multiple weapons. The gunman, who had been displaying “erratic behavior” was stopped, thanks to the quick actions of three young Americans Alek Skarlatos, an American soldier recently returned from Afghanistan, Spencer Stone, a paramedic in the US Air Force, Anthony Sadler, a university student and friend of Skarlatos and Stone, and Chris Norman, a British businessman who was aboard the train. The suspect, identified as 26-year-old Moroccan citizen Ayoub el-Khazzani, had been on the radar of security officials in Spain, France, and Belgium for over a year. Skarlatos was the first to hear gunfire and breaking glass, and sensed something was wrong, quickly springing into action to take down the gunman as he boarded his traincar.

How Civilian Awareness and Participation Can Help Save Lives 

While the young Americans who likely saved the lives of the other passengers aboard their train had American military experience and therefore likely having heightened security training, every individual can learn to train their sense of awareness, no matter their background or environment.

SDR^® Academy brings the WeAware+™ Application to the market, giving users an innovative new way to access security and awareness training right at their fingertips. WeAware+™ and SDR^® training give users the ability to search for abnormalities in their environment and report what they see into the WeAware+™ system. Early detection can lead to prevention, which is the key tenant of SDR’s safety and security training methodology. The civilian population can check and input information into WeAware+™, thereby becoming active participants in their own safety. Users can log onto the virtual cloud and access alerts, reporting, and safety tips for their given location. The more users there are on the system, the stronger the cloud of information becomes, enhancing overall awareness and up-to-date reporting for specific areas. Mass local reporting allows updates and new information to appear in a matter of seconds, not only alerting other WeAware+™ users, but also connecting with local authorities, breeding social cohesion between security officials and the local communities in which they serve.

Civilian participation in safety through heightened awareness can lead to prevention of future security incidents. By simply being more aware of our surroundings we can help keep ourselves and others out of harm’s way.

Behavioral Indicators Are Important. Proper Training is Vital.

The TSA’s Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT), has been problematic from the program’s inception in 2007. Reports surfaced which indicated there was a lack of science supporting the program’s efficacy and that similar hit rates could be achieved “if they flipped a coin.”

“Behavior detection, which is just one element of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) efforts to mitigate threats against the traveling public, is vital to TSA’s layered approach to deter, detect and disrupt individuals who pose a threat to aviation.”

Protocols Used by TSA’s SPOT Program.

While the SPOT program remains difficult to measure – the intentions of the program are worthwhile – looking for possible suspicious behaviors which could indicate malicious intent. Where the program fails is in its nuanced approach to interpreting the behaviors being seen by security officials, and the lack of proper training for the specifically trained officers, known as Behavior Detection Officers.

 HOW IS SDR DIFFERENT?

SDR^®’s methodology is based on the idea of prevention – that taking a proactive approach can prevent crimes or terrorist actions before an event occurs. SDR teaches that there is no specific mold into which every criminal actor or deviant event will fit, therefore profiling with biases and/or for a narrow scope of suspects will inevitably miss illicit activities and target false positives. SDR negates ethnic profiling in security practices with unique SDR auto-critique tools. Furthermore, the SDR training is based upon SDR communication tools which allow for ease of communication between units, organizations, cultures, and countries. The tools acknowledge and give space for any behavior in a given environment, from normal to abnormal, to everything in between.

SDR^® gives security training to security personnel and beyond, in a manner which allows for nuanced protocols and tailor-made programming depending on a given environment during a specific time. Environments fluctuate depending on time of day, cultural norms, and legal guidelines of the community, and the security protocols and detection systems should reflect these details. SDR equips trainees with the necessary tools to better read their environments and understand their surroundings, leading to knowledge-based decisions, rather than a flagged checklist of “abnormal behaviors,” which force officers to find a suspect.

SDR® in Crowds: How to Stay Safe During Mass Events

Heightened awareness is the best means of keeping oneself safe in all environments. SDR^®’s methodology places an emphasis on prevention through awareness rather than reactionary measures. Not only is it vital to be aware of one’s surroundings at all times, but it is equally important to understand what behaviors are typical or abnormal for a given situation. A setting where this is most useful is in crowds or mass events. When surrounded by hundreds or thousands of people, being able to identify atypical behaviors for the environment can keep an individual safe from potential harm.

A huge component of SDR is understanding normality for a given situation and looking for behavioral indicators rather than specific suspects. Normality in SDR is a definition of the routine conduct of the specific environment that, among other things, takes into consideration local cultural norms, the purpose the area serves and local legal guidelines. Normality for a given area is dependent on the time of day, holidays, organized events, current events, etc. “Protecting arenas, stadiums, large public venues and special events involves traditional tools and skills but unique needs specific to the venue, location, event, time of day, crowd demeanor and even international and terrorist situations.” All of these factors place a major role in determining normal versus abnormal behavior in a given environment. This type of searching for behaviors has proven successful in many cases and in various environments.

For example, should you see someone highly intoxicated and shouting in a park in the middle of the day, on a typical day this would be highly abnormal behavior. However, should you see the same person doing the same thing in the fans’ fanatic section of a football stadium during a big game, this person would be the norm and the person instead sitting quietly in the same area may be the one displaying abnormal behavior.

SDR is a useful tool and training methodology to assist security professionals (security guards, law enforcement, ushers, etc.) at mass events. SDR’s trainings enable security officers to have a broader scope of the environment and provide a better understanding of the crowd/environment without focusing on each and every individual. This latter factor is particularly important when in a large crowd setting, as it is impossible with so many people in a given area, to focus on each individual. It allows security to scan a given area and determine which behaviors stand out from the typical in that particular environment. Understanding normal for a given environment therefore makes the abnormal stand out more acutely.

SDR is also more effective then other approaches, as it does not use a one-size-fits-all ideology to security/policing, but rather customizes approaches to specific circumstances. Security for a stadium or large-scale venue must be considered on a case-by-case basis. . “Current policies and procedures for stadium security are based upon a one-size fits all philosophy that ignores information from intelligence sources and behavioral experts. 100% screening policies often result in degraded fan experience and sometimes decay when lines become too long or the event time nears.” SDR training is efficient and negates biases prevalent in other trainings. SDR is based on behavior, not race, ethnicity, religion or other biases, which is especially relevant at large protests, concerts and any other gathering made up mostly of one particular community. Discriminatory profiling not only infringes upon the rights of individuals, but is also counter-productive to security goals. Attendees of large scale events can feel secure in that SDR-trained personnel will conduct their security duties without bias clouding their judgement and how they approach overall security for the venue.

Manipulating Focus and Awareness

SDR^® characterizes the Urban Hunter™ as a person on the lookout for something, projecting preparation signs of a hunter on the prowl. When people are searching for something or someone, they exhibit similar basic mental, physiological, and behavioral indicators. Those indicators apply to everyone, regardless of what or whom they are looking for—whether they be a pick-pocket or someone collecting information in their planning stages of the next potential terrorist attack. In SDR these indicators make up the Urban Hunter Energy™. What distinguishes the Urban Hunter from the rest of the crowd, is their search, the hunt.

SDR Academy can bolster public security and safety in all areas with SDR training and the WeAware+™ application, which not only provides training, but additionally aggregates crowdsourced information from local citizens who recognize deviant behaviors and report it into the cloud-based WeAware+™ system. WeAware+™ gives people the capabilities and the accessibility to spot Urban Hunter Energy and know how to appropriately and effectively respond to it.

Apollo Robbins is a master pickpocket and has made his living studying people’s behaviors and manipulating human focus through distractions. Below we can watch Robbins’ video on manipulation of focus exhibited during his TED Talk and better understand what exactly personifies the Urban Hunter. Can you identify the Urban Hunter Energy™ that he exhibits? How does he manipulate focus?

What can we learn from Robbins and from other examples of Urban Hunters? 

From Robbins and other similar scenarios, we can see how powerful manipulation of focus can be, and how it is necessary for each individual to have heightened awareness in all environments. Heightened awareness can ensure that we take note of locally relevant behaviors that may otherwise not be of central focus to us, and take focus away from other indicators such as stereotypes and ethnic profiling. We can learn how to harness our awareness toward prevention, drawing our attention to what behaviors truly may lead to deviant acts, before such acts occur. As such, we can negate the Urban Hunters’ manipulations of our focus and we can prevent attacks from occurring.

MANIPULEREN VAN AANDACHT EN BEWUSTZIJN

SDR® karakteriseert de Urban Hunter™ als een persoon die op zoek is naar iets en daarbij signalen uitstraalt van een jager op de loer. Wanneer mensen zoeken naar iets of iemand zullen ze dezelfde primaire mentale-, fysiologische- en gedragsindicatoren vertonen. Deze indicatoren zijn op iedereen van toepassing, ongeacht naar wie of wat ze op zoek zijn –of het nu gaat om een zakkenroller of iemand die informatie verzamelt in de planningsfase voor een nieuwe terroristische aanslag. In SDR noemen we deze indicatoren de Urban Hunter Energy™. Een Urban Hunter onderscheidt zich van de menigte door hun zoektocht, de jacht.

SDR Academy kan de openbare veiligheid en beveiliging op alle gebieden verbeteren met de SDR training en de WeAware+™ toepassing, welke niet alleen bestaat uit training, maar bovendien crowdsourcing informatie verzamelt van burgers die afwijkend gedrag in de omgeving herkennen en rapporteren aan het cloudgebaseerde WeAware+™ systeem. WeAware+™ geeft mensen de mogelijkheid en toegang tot het herkennen van de Urban Hunter Energy en geeft ze de kans adequaat en effectief te reageren.

Apollo Robbins is een meesterzakkenroller en heeft zijn werk gemaakt van het bestuderen van het gedrag van mensen en het manipuleren van de aandacht door mensen af te leiden. Hieronder is een video van Robbins te zien waarin hij tijdens een TED Talk uitlegt hoe de aandacht gemanipuleerd kan worden en wat de Urban Hunter precies is. Kunt u de Urban Hunter Energy™ identificeren dat hij vertoont? Hoe manipuleert hij de aandacht?

Hoe kunnen we leren van Robbins en andere voorbeelden van Urban Hunters?

Door Robbins en vergelijkbare situaties kunnen we zien hoe krachtig het manipuleren van de aandacht kan zijn en waarom het voor ieder individu nodig is om een verhoogd bewustzijn te hebben in alle omgevingen. Een verhoogd bewustzijn zorgt dat we ons richten op lokaal relevant gedrag dat anders mogelijk aan onze aandacht ontsnapt zou zijn, terwijl we niet langer letten op andere indicatoren zoals stereotyperingen en etnisch profileren. We kunnen leren hoe we ons bewustzijn kunnen richten op preventie en onze aandacht richten op gedrag dat daadwerkelijk kan leiden tot afwijkende handelingen, nog voordat deze plaatsvinden. Op deze manier kunnen we de manipulatie van Urban Hunters tenietdoen.

HOW DO WE HUNT THE LONE WOLF?

Since 9/11 there has been a large priority placed on fighting identifiable terrorist groups and less focus on the very real, and very prevalent threat of lone wolf actors. The most recent attacks in Copenhagen and in Paris, underscore the need to better and more effectively identify potential violent radicalization indicators. In the Danish capital Copenhagen yesterday, a lone gunman alleged to be an “Islamic fanatic” fired 200 bullets into Krudttønden cafe in central Østerbro, in an apparent attempt to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who drew Prophet Mohammad as a dog. A local synagogue in Copenhagen was also attacked shortly thereafter, and a man has been reported to have been shot in the head. This Danish violence comes on the heels of the January Paris attack, where the satirical magazine offices of Charlie Hebdo were attacked, in which lone wolf actors, the Kouachi brothers, (also identified as Islamic extremists), killed 12 people, before carrying out two other fatal attacks, also targeting those whom had depicted the Prophet Mohammad in what was seen as a disrespectful light.

“DHS/I&A assesses that a number of economic and political factors are driving a resurgence in rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization activity. Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years. In addition, the historical election of an African American president and the prospect of policy changes are proving to be a driving force for rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization.”

The above study on rightwing extremism from the United States Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis in 2009, indicated that since April 2009, 74 percent of terrorist incidents that were carried out, or planned, were perpetrated by a single person. Ninety percent of the more than 60 attacks were the work of no more than two people.

“The 2009 report, which detailed the resurgence of the radical right in the aftermath of Obama’s 2008 election, was pilloried by pundits and politicians who wrongly saw it as an attack on all conservatives. As a result, then-DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized for it, and the DHS intelligence team that wrote it has since virtually disbanded.”

How Do We Minimize the Lone Wolf Threat?

Since lone wolf actors are difficult to successfully monitor and furthermore, since monitoring of one’s political or religious affiliations by one’s government pushes into the territory of infringing upon one’s freedom of religion, there must be other ways to identify these actors before further attacks are perpetrated.

SDR® Academy and its trainings are based on a proactive approach and methodology with the goal of preventing crimes or terrorist actions before an event occurs. SDR does not wait for an event to occur, rather SDR-trained personnel are equipped to identify key behavioral indicators which are based on a better understanding of one’s surroundings and what constitutes normal or abnormal behaviors in a given environment.

SDR also characterizes what is deemed as the Urban Hunter™. The Urban Hunter characterizes anyone who is on the lookout for something – all people searching for something or someone will exhibit similar basic mental, physiological, and behavioral indicators. Those indicators are what SDR calls the Urban Hunter Energy™. What distinguishes the Urban Hunter from the rest of the crowd, is their search, the hunt. Those individuals trained on SDR will be able to recognize the difference between a mother searching for one of her lost children inside of a shopping mall, and a potential terrorist who is searching the local environment for their next target. This training can ameliorate the awareness of potential radicalized actors, looking to perpetrate their next attack.

Additionally, ISCA^®, SDR^’s sister organization, is involved in a number of ongoing research and development projects seeking to more thoroughly understand the process of radicalization toward violent extremism and/or terrorism in individuals and in groups.

Since the threat of lone wolf actors continues to grow as radicalization throughout the world continues, it is important that not only our law enforcement professionals and police officers are equipped and trained to spot abnormal behaviors, but that individual citizens in every community also better understand their surroundings and know which behaviors are abnormal for their local environments. SDR has created the WeAware+™ application, which gives each individual the power to harness real-time, crowd-sourced information, in order to ameliorate their awareness of current events in their area. The application allows real-world application as it gives citizens and security officials the supplemental tools they need to truly understand and interpret the information they see and receive, and to translate them into effective responses in order to help keep their communities safe.

SDR and the WeAware+™ application allow the community to take an active role in ensuring a safer environment for all. Citizens have the capability to take initiative in their own respective communities through use of the WeAware+™ application and report the activities they recognize through their training, as being suspicious or atypical for their area. The added value of citizen participation leads to the abundance of useful information and tips, as well as increased community cohesion and a safer and more aware populace.

HOE VINDEN WE DE LONE WOLF?

Sinds 9/11 is er grote prioriteit geplaatst op het bestrijden van identificeerbare terroristische groepen en minder aandacht besteed aan de zeer reële en vaak voorkomende dreiging van “lone wolfs”. De meest recente aanvallen in Kopenhagen en Parijs onderstrepen de noodzaak voor het effectiever en beter identificeren van potentieel gewelddadige radicaliseringsindicatoren. In de Deense hoofdstad Kopenhagen vuurde gisteren een schutter, die beweerde een “islamitisch extremist” te zijn, 200 kogels af in het Krudttønden café in centraal Østerbro, met als doel het vermoorden van de Zweedse cartoonist Lars Vilks, die de profeet Mohammed als hond tekende. Een plaatselijke synagoge in Kopenhagen werd kort hierna ook aangevallen, waarbij een man mogelijk is beschoten in het hoofd. Deze aanval in Denemarken komt vlak na de aanslag in Parijs, waar het satirische magazine Charlie Hebdo werd aangevallen en waar de lone wolfs Kouachi (de broers worden ook worden gezien als islamitische extremisten) verantwoordelijk waren voor het doden van 12 mensen vanwege het, naar hun idee, respectloos afbeelden van de profeet Mohammed.

“DHS/I&A zijn van oordeel dat enkele economische en politieke factoren zorgen voor een opleving van het rekruteren en radicaliseren van extreemrechts. Ondanks de overeenkomsten met het klimaat van de jaren 1990 is de dreiging van lone wolves en kleine terroristische cellen meer uitgesproken dan in de afgelopen jaren. Daarnaast zorgt de historische verkiezingen van een Afro-Amerikaanse president en de vooruitzichten van beleidsveranderingen voor een drijvende kracht achter het rekruteren en radicaliseren van extreemrechts.”

Het bovenstaande onderzoek naar extreemrechts extremisme uit 2009 van het Amerikaanse Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis (DHS) geeft aan dat van alle terroristische incidenten die zijn uitgevoerd of gepland sinds april 2009, 74 procent werd uitgevoerd door slechts één persoon. Negentig procent van de meer dan zestig aanvallen waren het werk van niet meer dan twee mensen.

“Het rapport uit 2009, dat de heropleving van radicaal rechts na de verkiezing van Obama in 2008 beschreef, werd bekritiseerd door experts en politici die het ten onrechte zagen als een aanval op alle conservatieven. Als gevolg hiervan moest de toenmalig DHS secretaris Janet Napolitano haar excuses aanbieden. Tevens is het DHS team dat het rapport schreef zo goed als ontbonden.”

Hoe verkleinen we het risico van Lone Wolfs?

Omdat het moeilijk is om lone wolfs succesvol te monitoren en omdat het controleren van iemands politieke of religieuze voorkeuren door de overheid inbreuk kan maken op de vrijheid van religie, moeten er andere manieren worden gevonden om de individuen te identificeren voordat er aanvallen worden gepleegd.

De trainingen van SDR® Academy zijn gebaseerd op een proactieve aanpak en methode met als doel het voorkomen van terroristische acties voordat deze plaatsvinden. SDR wacht niet tot er iets gebeurt, maar zorgt dat SDR getrainde medewerkers in staat zijn om de belangrijkste gedragsindicatoren te identificeren. Deze zijn gebaseerd op de lokale omgeving en houden rekening met wat wordt gezien als normaal en afwijkend gedrag in deze omgeving.

SDR onderscheidt ook het idee van de Urban Hunter™. Een Urban Hunter is een persoon die naar iets op zoek is –en alle mensen die op zoek zijn naar iets of iemand zullen dezelfde primaire mentale-, fysiologische- en gedragsindicatoren vertonen. Deze indicatoren zijn wat SDR de Urban Hunter Energy™ noemt. Een Urban Hunter onderscheidt zich van de menigte door hun zoektocht, de jacht. Mensen die zijn getraind door SDR zullen in staat zijn om het verschil te zien tussen een moeder die op zoek is naar haar kind in een winkelcentrum en een potentiële terrorist die in de lokale omgeving op zoek is naar het volgende doel. Deze training kan veiligheidsmedewerkers bewuster maken om uit te kijken naar potentiële geradicaliseerde individuen, die een toekomstige aanslag willen plegen. Bovendien is de zusterorganisatie van SDR® –ISCA®- betrokken bij een aantal lopende onderzoeks- en ontwikkelprojecten om beter te begrijpen hoe het proces van radicalisering tot gewelddadig extremisme en/of terrorisme bij individuen en groepen tot stand komt. Omdat de dreiging van een lone wolf blijft groeien wanneer radicalisering in de wereld blijft, is het belangrijk dat niet alleen rechtshandhavingsprofessionals en politieagenten zijn uitgerust en getraind om afwijkend gedrag te identificeren, maar dat ook burgers in de maatschappij bewuster zijn van hun omgeving en weten wat voor gedrag afwijkend is in hun omgeving. SDR heeft de WeAware+™ toepassing ontwikkeld, die individuen de macht geeft om het bewustzijn over huidige activiteiten in de omgeving te vergroten. Deze toepassing zorgt voor echte betrokkenheid omdat het burgers en veiligheidsmedewerkers de aanvullende middelen biedt die ze nodig hebben om de informatie die ze zien en ontvangen daadwerkelijk te begrijpen en te interpreteren, en om dit te vertalen naar een effectief antwoord.

SDR en de WeAware+™ toepassing stellen de gemeenschap in staat om een actieve rol aan te nemen in het veiliger maken van de omgeving. Burgers beschikken over de capaciteit om initiatief te nemen in hun lokale omgeving door het gebruik van de WeAware+™ toepassing en het rapporteren van afwijkende activiteiten die ze herkennen door training. De toegevoegde waarde van burgerparticipatie leidt tot een overvloed aan bruikbare informatie en tips, tot een toename van de gemeenschapszin, een veiliger omgeving en bewustere bevolking.

ISCA® Research – Finding Root Causes of Radicalization to Combat Terror

Since the terrorist incidents last month in Paris, Europe has been on heightened alert and pivoted their efforts to further combatting terror. As tighter security measures are implemented throughout the region, police and security forces are paying more attention to potential suspicious actors in their cities. There is an acute fear that some 2,500 EU nationals that have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight along Islamic militants may come back to the EU even further radicalized.

One of the issues with this is that with current heightened sensitivity to Islamic activity, security forces in Europe may find themselves more likely to racially profile their citizens. This is problematic as profiling particular characteristics of an individual do not yield good results and lead to the degradation of trust between security forces and the populations they serve. SDR® Academy trains using a methodology developed which looks for suspicious or abnormal behaviors in a given environment rather than profiling for suspects. An added value of this training methodology happens to be that this manner of looking for behavior indicators rather than suspects, inherently negates ethnic profiling. This is an important factor to consider as Europe and other regions look to innovate their security methods and training mechanisms.

Another important factor which Europe has been grappling with, is how to identify and diminish the possibility of radicalization toward violence across Europe. ISCA®, SDR^®’s sister organization, is involved in a number of ongoing research and development projects  in conjunction with the European Commission, seeking to more thoroughly understand the process of radicalization toward violent extremism and/or terrorism in individuals and in groups in order to address whether security policy and infrastructures and personnel throughout the EU are equipped with the proper training and tools to prevent and/or negate catalyzing factors and processes, and to improve the state of the art. These research projects can help to answer the questions of “why radical Islam exerts such a strong pull on socially excluded young Muslim men in Europe’s cities and how the cycle of exclusion, radicalization and violence can be broken.”

ISCA® ONDERZOEK – VINDEN VAN DE OORZAKEN VAN RADICALISERING OM TERREUR TE BESTRIJDEN

Sinds de terroristische aanslagen vorige maand in Parijs is Europa alerter en zijn de inspanningen om terreur te bestrijden toegenomen. Nu er strengere veiligheidsmaatregelen zijn geïmplementeerd in de regio, letten politie en veiligheidsdiensten meer op potentiële verdachten in hun steden. Er is een acuut gevaar dat ongeveer 2500 EU-ingezetenen, die zijn afgereisd naar Syrië en Irak om mee te vechten met islamitische Staat, terugkeren naar de EU en nog verder zijn geradicaliseerd.

Een van de problemen die een verhoogde staat van paraatheid ten opzichte van islamitische activiteiten met zich meebrengt is dat Europese veiligheidsdiensten waarschijnlijk sneller gebruikmaken van raciale profileringstechnieken. Dit is problematisch omdat het profileren op basis van uiterlijke kenmerken van een individu niet tot goede resultaten leidt, maar voornamelijk resulteert in het afbrokkelen van vertrouwen tussen veiligheidsdiensten en de burgers. SDR® Academy traint met een methode die kijkt naar verdacht of afwijkend gedrag in een bepaalde omgeving, in plaats van gebruik te maken van het profileren van verdachten. De toegevoegde waarde van deze trainingsmethode is dat het zoeken naar gedragsindicatoren in plaats van naar verdachten zorgt dat er geen gebruik wordt gemaakt van etnisch profileren. Dit is een belangrijke factor omdat Europa en andere regio’s hun veiligheidsmethodes en trainingsmechanismen willen innoveren.

Een andere belangrijke factor waar Europa mee worstelt, is hoe gewelddadige radicalisering te identificeren en de verspreiding hiervan te stoppen. ISCA®, de zusterorganisatie van SDR®, is betrokken bij een aantal lopende onderzoeks- en ontwikkelprojecten in samenwerking met de Europese Commissie, om beter te begrijpen hoe het proces van radicalisering tot gewelddadig extremisme en/of terrorisme bij individuen en groepen tot stand komt, om te bepalen of veiligheidsbeleid en infrastructuren en personeel in de EU zijn uitgerust met de juiste training en hulpmiddelen om katalyserende factoren en processen te voorkomen of te omzeilen en uiteindelijk technieken te verbeteren. Deze onderzoeksprojecten kunnen helpen om de volgende vraag te beantwoorden: “Waarom heeft de radicale islam zo’n sterke aantrekkingskracht op sociaal buitengesloten jonge moslimmannen in Europese steden en hoe kan de cyclus van uitsluiting, radicalisering en geweld doorbroken worden.”

WeAware+™ and Real-World Applications for Safety and Security

The recent attacks in Paris underscore the need for all individuals to have heightened awareness of their surroundings. The WeAware+™ application affords each individual the ability to harness the power of crowdsourced information, in real-time, in order to ameliorate their awareness of current events in their area. For example, given yesterday’s events in Paris, an individual with the WeAware+™ application could check their area for any updates regarding the whereabouts of the two gunmen who remained at large following the attacks yesterday afternoon and evening. The application allows users to input information, alert contacts who also are using the system, and seamlessly integrates the security community in the area so that they too have the most current, open-sourced information for the specific area of interest, to better keep  our communities and people safe.