Police Response to Terrorism (From Political Terrorism and Business - The Threat and Response, P 184-194, 1979, Yonah Alexander and Robert A Kilmarx, ed. - See NCJ-77538)

• NCJ Number: 77551
• Author(s): R L Rabe
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This discussion of the police response to terrorism provides a definition of terrorism and examines the terrorist threat to businesses, the management of terrorist and hostage incidents, and negotiations in hostage incidents.

Abstract

Terrorism is defined as 'a criminal act in violation of specific Federal, State, or local statutes that causes a psychological reaction of intense fear in the victims and is intended to intimidate, coerce, demoralize, or influence government or the civilian population.' Terrorism against a company or its executives cannot be prevented; however, reasonable preparations can minimize the attack. Preparation of contingency responses can also be helpful. While public law enforcement agencies continue to increase their capabilities to manage terrorist incidents, those persons who may be targets of terrorist attacks must also be alert to this real and potential problem. While it is impossible for law enforcement agencies to devise standard procedures for handling each situation, similarities in incidents permit certain guidelines. Law enforcement agencies should have patience in dealing with hostage incidents and should have clear communication about procedures to be followed by all involved police personnel. Agencies should also be prepared in the areas of policy, priorities, planning, and preparation and should measure the impact of the response to a given incident on future incidents. They should also acquire intelligence knowledge relevant to countering and dealing with different types of terrorist groups and should train the units that will be involved in dealing with terrorist incidents. Negotiations should be undertaken in hostage incidents because of the value of the lives of the hostages, the time to be gained through negotiations, and the knowledge that can be gained for use in any escalation of force. The negotiator must approach negotiations with the idea that all parties must come away with something and that hostage-takers need a way to save face for the release of the hostages to occur. Five notes are listed.