Responding to Threats

Tips for You

Criminals and terrorists cannot succeed easily when vigilant personnel surround their targets. The most effective deterrent is for all personnel, not just security, to be attentive to their surroundings. Experience has shown that potential adversaries may abandon their plans when they believe their presence has been detected. Everyone has an important role to play in stopping terrorist and criminal activities. The following items, collected from NCHRP Report 525 Responding to Threats: A Field Personnel Manual, will help you detect and report unusual behavior you may see while conducting your normal work activities.

How Terrorists/Criminals Select a Target or Victim
Terrorists select targets that are highly visible; have a high economic, symbolic, or sentimental value; and have a highly disruptive destruction value. The attack method terrorists use is designed to generate shock and widespread public fear, leave a severe psychological impact, and attract a great deal of attention to the terrorist group and it’s cause. Criminals on the other hand select targets in a more emotional, impulsive manner and the targets may be selected because of a real or imagined slight by a spouse or supervisor.

Both terrorists and criminals pick targets that have a high potential for success, where security should be lax or easily overcome, where there is little probability that the intended victim will offer significant or unforeseen resistance and there should be multiple opportunities for quick escape after the event.

What a Terrorist/Criminal Needs to Know
Terrorists and other criminals need to gather information about their target prior to their attack. Some of the types of information they will be trying to gather are related to the following:

Operational Security

• Location, training, # of security staff
• Security staff armaments
• Vigilance of nonsecurity personnel
• Location, type, & response time of local law enforcement
• Shift changes
• Access controls for employees, contractors, deliveries, mail, parcels

Physical Security

• Nearby security concerns (i.e. banks, video surveillance, schools, hospitals)
• Location of on-site security cameras
• Location and type of alarms
• Fences, barriers, obstacles & weak spots
• Any entities having uncontrolled access
• Unguarded/unobserved areas

Logistical and Strategic Advantages

• Times when alertness, response, and/or visibility is degraded
• Times when the rewards are greatest (i.e. more people or money present)
• Observation and planning spots
• Primary and alternate escape routes
• Primary and alternate attack sites
• Requirements to control the target

Where to Look
Terrorists/Criminals must collect information on the target, and nothing is better than doing that in person. Around every potential target, there is at least one area where the would-be-attacker has to physically get the information they need. This is called an “Area of Concentration” or a “Red Zone.” Red Zones include ideal places for observing the target, such as a restaurant or library window across from target, a bench, a bus stop, or a fishing spot. You can identify Red Zones by considering the potential targets in your area & ask yourself “Where would I have to be to collect the info needed.” By comparing the activities of new folks against normal activities, it will be easy to recognize those who don’t have a valid reason to be there.

What to Look For
You are looking for unusual behaviors that you cannot readily explain at or near a potential target. The potential terrorist/criminal in a Red Zone knows they are doing something wrong and will manifest some of the following behaviors:

Unusual Behavior

Personal Signs/Traits

• Nervousness (i.e. excessive smoking, pacing, sweating, etc.)
• Avoidance of eye contact
• Fixation on the target
• Face concealed w/ glasses, hat, scarves
• Clothing that doesn’t fit area/weather
• Shielding activities and masking behavior from onlookers, passing police, security personnel, and video cameras
• Wearing a uniform of delivery, postal, repair people, but not functioning as such.

Unusual Activities – Active

• Ignorance of local customs, laws, etc.
• Use of binoculars, cameras, night vision devices, GPS
• Making notes on potential target
• Pacing off or measuring distances
• Looking for a parking space, but never parking when they could
• Fishermen lacking the proper gear or knowledge – they may return to the same spot even though they catch nothing

Unusual Activities – Passive

• People who have “nothing to do”
• People who remain in place in spite of inclement weather
• Repeated presence in the same location
• Repeated presence at multiple potential targets
• Loitering where locals consider unsafe
• Sitting in vehicles that appear broken, but no effort is made to repair them
• Sitting in a parked vehicle for no apparent reason

Unusual Objects
You are looking for unusual objects that you cannot readily explain at or near a potential target. The distinction between suspicious objects, which may contain a bomb, and lost-and-found objects, is something that you will learn with practice. A few examples of suspicious objects are a closed bottle/pipe with attached wires, a battery, briefcase, package, or bag in an unusual place, and common objects that may generally have value to people but are left unattended in an uncommon place.

Unusual Circumstances
Look for unusual circumstances that you cannot readily explain at or near a potential target. Examples of these may include the following:

People

• A person placing an object in a common place, and then rapidly leaving the area
• A highly agitated person entering a room, looking around, and leaving in a highly agitated state
• Two or more people suddenly experiencing unidentified odor, coughing or breathing difficulty, nausea, or blurred vision

Vehicles

• Unusual use of vehicle (i.e., van containing drums of diesel fuel, overloaded vehicle with missing license plates, freshly painted vehicle in a dirty setting)
• Vehicles parked in sensitive places (i.e., bridge column, under overpasses, next to fuel depots, hazmat facilities, etc.)
• Vehicles parked in functionally uncharacteristic places (i.e., rental truck in front of hospital, gas truck at a school,etc)
• Vehicle(s) left in target area with driver departing in another (get-away) vehicle

How and What to Report
Reports may be submitted in writing, phoned in, and directly to 911. Provide all the requested info or a “did not observe” comment for info that you don’t have. Regardless of whether or not a verbal/phone report was given, the details of every observation should be written down ASAP, while they are fresh in your mind. It is important to remember the following items: activity, location, time, date, and description. Descriptions are for people and vehicles associated with them. A description of a person includes: sex, race, age, height, build, weight, complexion, and distinguishing features. Vehicle descriptions include: license number/state, color, year, make/model, type, # of doors, and distinguishing features. It is important for vehicle descriptions to include features that are difficult to change because license plates are among the easiest things to change or steal.

When to Intervene
Your steps of action should include: stay safe, do not jeopardize the safety of others, stay calm/alert, notify appropriate security personnel, and maintain communication. Generally you are not to intervene, but if there is an imminent loss of life you should sound an alarm, try to move people to safer areas, and shut down and building or vehicle HVAC systems.

This article was intended to expose you to tips designed to help you detect and report unusual behavior you may see while conducting your normal activities. Use these tips as a guide to sharpen your skills in taking greater notice of your surroundings. As your skill level increases, the comfort level of would-be terrorist/criminals will decline sharply. Hopefully, they will decide to go somewhere else.

Collected from NCHRP Report 525 Responding to Threats: A Field Personnel Manual