NCJ Number
238530
Date Published
February 2012
Length
52 pages
Annotation
The resources presented aim to support and guide nationwide efforts to improve local communities' knowledge and capacity to help prevent terrorist acts.
Abstract
This guide offers recommendations for local outreach campaigns; explains how to develop and disseminate messages that give the public a better understanding of their role in reporting suspicious activity; and helps law enforcement agencies and community partners to understand and use available resources to help build and sustain local efforts. One section of this report describes strategies for improving awareness and reporting of suspicious activity. This section discusses how to tailor messages and educational materials to a variety of individuals, organizations, and audiences. The strategies emphasize that keeping communities safe is a shared responsibility; the importance of engaging the community in planning and promoting local campaigns; the need to inform the public about the indicators of terrorism planning; and the necessity of addressing a community's privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties concerns. Also emphasized is the leveraging of technology to promote anonymous methods of reporting and the adoption of simple and accessible methods to promote suspicious activity reporting, as well as the motivation of the community to report by responding quickly and following up. In addition, strategies are designed to improve efforts by seeking feedback and tracking successes and challenges. Another section describes the resources available to assist a community in planning and implementing a local suspicious-activity reporting (SAR) effort. Appended examples of local and State SAR efforts and flier examples