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.

HOW BIAS CONTINUES TO ERODE EFFECTIVE POLICING

Incidents throughout the United States continue to erode the faith in cities’ policing practices and protocols, and call into question whether the institutional bias against African-Americans can really be remedied. Earlier this month, a 32-year-old black woman, Kamilah Brock, alleged that the New York City Police sent her to a mental hospital and forced powerful drugs upon her simply because of her race.

Another incident in Manhattan similarly saw the New York City Police tackling and handcuffing a young black man who they confused for the suspect in a crime. The young man they tackled turned out to be James Blake, formerly the fourth-ranked men’s tennis player in the world. Blake was detained for about 15 minutes until officers realized who he was, and suffered cuts and bruises from the attack. After the incident, Blake commented that, “it’s as simple as unnecessary police force, no matter what my race is. In my mind there’s probably a race factor involved, but no matter what, there’s no reason for anybody to do that to anybody.”

HOW SDR® CAN RESTORE FAITH IN POLICING PRACTICES?

These incidents in New York are representative of a larger and broader issue that plagues the entire policing system in the United States. Although it cannot be said that every officer acts upon their negative biases, there is certainly an apparent void of effective training that would provide a methodological basis with which to recognize biases, and the operational tools to guide measured and knowledge-based practices.

SDR® training can restore respect to policing while providing increased knowledge and a higher level of efficiency, making it more effective and unprejudiced, all while improving community relations. SDR® Academy is a methodology that is founded upon recognizing potential cases of violence, public disorder, illicit activities or lethal attacks, through behavioral profiling and analysis. As SDR® relies on behavioral indicators and analysis to identify threats, the training inherently negates ethnic profiling.  SDR® provides trainees with auto-critique and counter-bias tools that become a consistent part of their observation activities, thereby preventing actions based on automatic red-flagging of people of a particular gender, age, race, religion, or sexual orientation. In the cases described above, implicit biases likely played a role in why events unfolded as they did.

SDR® trainees learnhow to judge a person’s behaviors and potential threat level in just moments, and come to understand that no two circumstances are the same–there is no singular definition of who a suspect may be. SDR® is a heightened awareness training method based on observing people’s behaviors relative to their surroundings, as opposed to their physical appearance or an officer’s previous personal experiences. SDR® trains individuals to search their surroundings and observe what a state of normalcy consists of in that particular area, to detect people’s adherence to – or deterrence from – normal behavior (for that given area), and to choose the appropriate action.

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.

Vernā Myers: How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them.

Changing the Conversation and Preventing Another Ferguson

 

Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable.

Vernā Myers’ TED Talk from November 2014 pushes us to identify our biases and take control of them. She challenges us to try 3 things:

1). Get out of denial. The mentality that “we don’t have a biased bone in our body” is just something we tell ourselves to feel good. We all possess implicit biases and the first step is understanding this to be true.

2). Move toward young black men, instead of away from them. Myers tells us to walk toward our discomfort. How can we change the institutions of society if we continue to feed into our stereotypes and discomfort? We should make ourselves go deeper – see the person in a more complete way, not just for the color of their skin.

3).  Ending biases. Why don’t biases die? We can only begin to end biases by teaching older generations that their stereotypes have no place in daily discussions and we teach our children that racism is not acceptable.

Myers’ talk is aimed toward pushing the audience to be part of the forces of change which stand up against racism. Changing our implicit associations of black men from negative associations, to positive ones.

How Can SDR Training Help Counteract These Implicit Biases?

What makes SDR^® training so unique is its foundation in the notion that heightened awareness leads to prevention, and that prevention is the key to effectively keeping people safe. The SDR proactive approach means that all measures are taken with the goal of preventing crimes or terrorist actions before the event occurs. As SDR awareness relies on behavioral indicators and analysis to identify threats, the program and training actually negates ethnic profiling practices in those using it.

SDR training gives trainees the nuanced tools to better understand their surroundings and to make knowledge-based decisions. The SDR program enables users to recognize cases of potential violence, public disorder, illicit activities or lethal attacks, based on the training the program provides through behavioral analysis. SDR inherently negates ethnic profiling as the training teaches to look for abnormal behaviors rather than suspects.

SDR prevents illicit activities from minor crime to large-scale attacks by searching for abnormalities. Unique SDR operational tools such as the Bar of Normality^®, the Artificial Gut Feeling^®, and the SDR Fishnet Matrix^® embolden trainees with an understanding of human behavior that allows them to detect deviant behavior in varying environments.

Taking Myers’ 3-step advice to “walk boldly toward” our biases can serve the purpose of diminishing the power of bias in our lives and straying from coloring our judgments in the future. SDR training can further enhance our ability to more effectively search for abnormalities rather than suspects, and give citizens the right to be able to approach their law enforcement officials or peers for help, without fear of bias.

SDR®: Changing Our Perspective on Safety

How Can SDR^® Change Our Perspective to Better Keep Us Safe?

SDR^® Academy trains and teaches a methodology, which inherently negates discriminatory ethnic profiling in safety and security practices. Instead of looking for specific suspects, which can be described differently by every person depending on their personal and professional biases, the SDR method teaches trainees to look for abnormal behaviors for a given environment and equips them with operational auto-critique tools that ensure that they are making fact-based decisions relevant to their specific environment.

SDR Academy is a unique methodology in that it not only is relevant for security professionals worldwide, but it is applicable to every individual in any community. SDR training can be utilized by local professionals, owners of small businesses, leaders and teachers in schools, hospital staffs, local commercial areas, mall staff, as well as individual citizens in their own neighborhoods. SDR training gives individuals the proper and nuanced tools they need to make knowledge-based decisions by looking for the necessary indicators in their surroundings, to better keep their areas safe and accurately report any abnormalities they may see.

Photo courtesy of the California Innocence Project.

APPLICATION

THE FACTS – “In June 1998, an Orange County, California, bank was robbed. Three men made off with a little over a thousand dollars in cash.” 

THE RESULT – At the time of this incident, there was a 31-year-old-black man from nearby Carson, who was in violation of his parole. In September of 1998, this man’s parole officer asked him to come in for an impromptu meeting, where another officer had a warrant for his arrest. Two witnesses who had been working at the Orange County bank at the time of the robbery, had pointed to this man as a suspect in the crime. At trial, the man’s alibi did not hold up against prosecutors’ eyewitness testimonies.

The man, with two strikes already on his record, was therefore sentenced to 75 years to life, in accordance with the state’s three strikes law.

The Power of the Eyewitness

“Despite a nationwide trend toward various reforms in law enforcement, during trials a single eyewitness (who may be compromised in one way or another) can outweigh an overwhelming amount of other evidence. ‘Off the bat, 35 percent of eyewitness testimonies are wrong.’ ”

Eyewitness testimony, is notoriously unreliable for a multitude of factors, but perhaps the most researched aspect, is how race/ethnicity of a given defendant alters the eyewitnesses’ ability to accurately point a suspect.“Malpass and Kravitz (1969) found that photographs of black faces were more difficult to recognize than those of white faces regardless of the witness’s race.”

How Bias Alters Our Perception

The bias present in the aforementioned case, combined with the faulty eyewitness testimony, is endemic in both the justice system as well as the field of current law enforcement training. Bias, whether subconscious or not, affects our perception of guilty and innocent, and blurs the lines between who may be a suspect and who may be innocent.

From minorities being more likely to be stopped by police, to personal biases in our daily lives, our perception of others matters. It changes the manner in which we approach situations, from traveling to new neighborhoods, to TSA officers conducting screenings at airports, to our individual ability to give accurate eyewitness testimony.

How Can SDR® Help?

SDR^®’s nuanced training for is applicable to all citizens, no matter their environments. The proactive methodology focuses on effective prevention rather than reaction and forms the foundation for building a successful security infrastructure and safer environments for our citizens. SDR^® inherently negates ethnic profiling and takes bias out of the equation – making the training a unique and versatile tool for all. 

SDR®: Protecting Citizens from Unlawful Biases

“Ferguson, Mo., is a third white, but the crime statistics compiled in the city over the past two years seemed to suggest that only black people were breaking the law. They accounted for 85 percent of traffic stops, 90 percent of tickets and 93 percent of arrests. In cases like jaywalking, which often hinge on police discretion, blacks accounted for 95 percent of all arrests.”

The statistics revealed by the investigation of the police department in Ferguson, Missouri conducted by the United States Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, were so disparate they caused the Justice Department to conclude that the Ferguson Police Department had been routinely violating the constitutional rights of its black residents. The disparity of the statistics are indeed striking and are highlighted by the report’s six-month investigation which reveals emails circulated amongst Ferguson government officials stating, “Barack Obama would not be president long because ‘what black man holds a steady job for four years?’ Another email included a cartoon depicting African-Americans as monkeys. A third described black women having abortions as a way to curb crime.” The appalling nature of the content in this report underscores the need for a security training mechanism which can negate ingrained biases in police and law enforcement officials.

How Can SDR^® Help Negate Unlawful Biases?

SDR^® Academy trains and teaches a methodology which inherently negates discriminatory ethnic profiling in policing practice. Instead of looking for specific suspects, which can be described differently by every person depending on their personal and professional biases,the SDR method teaches trainees to look for abnormal behaviors for a given environment and equips them with operational auto-critique tools that ensure that they are making fact-based decisions relevant to their specific environment. In this manner, rather than specific personal biases influencing the way in which officers and security professionals decide who to approach, they are made to search for behavioral indicators that look out-of-the-ordinary for the local environment. Using this approach, SDR is able to restore the trust between the citizens of a community and the local law enforcement that serves them. Citizens in areas where SDR training has been implemented can go about their daily routines without a fear of bias from their law enforcement officers. By establishing a framework by which officers’ decisions are backed by relevant facts and behavioral indicators, SDR operational auto-critique tools simultaneously protect the rights of the public—by negating discriminatory ethnic profiling in policing—and of the officers by providing data with which they can defend their decisions.

The U.S. Department of Justice has placed more stringent restrictions on federal law enforcement agencies to limit the ability to profile on the basis of religion, national origin, and other characteristics, however, it is possible that the policies simply may not be enough to mitigate pre-existing biases. SDR can provide trainees with the more nuanced training they need with the added value of countering the effects of biases.

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.