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Book part
Publication date: 11 September 2015

Brent L. Smith, Jeff Gruenewald, Paxton Roberts and Kelly R. Damphousse

In this chapter, we examine several attributes of lone wolf terrorists and how their activities are temporally and geospatially patterned. In particular, we demonstrate how…

Abstract

Purpose

In this chapter, we examine several attributes of lone wolf terrorists and how their activities are temporally and geospatially patterned. In particular, we demonstrate how precursor behaviors and attack characteristics of lone wolves are similar and different compared to those of group-based terrorists.

Methodology/approach

Based on data drawn from the American Terrorism Study (ATS), we examine 268 federal terrorism “indictees” linked to 264 incidents. Three types of loners are identified based on group affiliations and levels of assistance in preparing for and executing terrorist attacks. A series of analyses comparatively examine loners who had no assistance and those actors that did.

Findings

The results of this study suggest that lone wolf terrorists are more educated and socially isolated than group-based actors. Lone wolves also engage in less precursor activities than group actors, but are willing to travel greater distances to prepare for and execute attacks. Explanations for why lone wolves are able to “survive” longer than terrorist groups by avoiding arrest may in part stem from their ability to temporally and geospatially position their planning and preparatory activities.

Originality/value

Studies on lone wolf terrorism remain few and many are plagued by methodological and conceptual limitations. The current study adds to this growing literature by relying on lone wolf terrorism data recently made available by the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Our findings are valuable for members of the law enforcement and intelligence communities responsible for the early detection and prevention of lone wolf terrorism in the United States.

Details

Terrorism and Counterterrorism Today
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-191-0

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-040-1

Article
Publication date: 20 August 2008

Paul E. O'Connell

The aim of this paper is to review chess as a model for incorporating local police agencies in the fight against global terrorism.

978

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to review chess as a model for incorporating local police agencies in the fight against global terrorism.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the literature concerning the nature of terrorist organizations, as well as recent literature that suggests that new methods are required to design a broad protective network with a common purpose.

Findings

The paper suggests that, rather than merely relying upon the development of new technologies, greater emphasis should be placed on overcoming the social and structural barriers to complete interoperability.

Practical implications

Practitioners should thoughtfully consider this paper and work to alleviate or minimize those barriers and impediments to complete interoperability.

Originality/value

This paper will benefit both students and practitioners of counter terrorism, insofar as it defines the proper role of local police agencies and reinforces the need for a common understanding and a united effort to protect society.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2013

Fangmeng Tian

The purpose of this paper is to closely examine the flows and selectivity of a scientific brain drain from China against the background of global talent competition.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to closely examine the flows and selectivity of a scientific brain drain from China against the background of global talent competition.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is derived from an empirical study, which randomly surveyed 451 Chinese scientists at leading global universities. Based on their biographical information, descriptive analysis and logistic regression not only demonstrates migration patterns of Chinese scientists, but also reveals their demographic profiles between 1998 and 2006.

Findings

The findings of this study show that the scientific community in China experienced increasing personnel exchange with the English academia during the observation period. Emigrant scientists from China were selected positively in terms of educational background, and the pattern seemed to turn stronger over time. By contrast, returnee scientists were selected negatively from those who studied abroad. The predominant mode of migration was both an ongoing brain drain and an emerging brain circulation, and the latter was largely pushed by domestic degree holders with overseas experience.

Originality/value

This empirical study enriches our understanding of international migration in the scientific community, and helps explain China's strategy in achieving rapid scientific development. Although national strategies targeting the research diaspora make a limited contribution in luring prominent scholars back home, a brain circulation can be realized by sending domestic scientists abroad for short‐period training or visiting.

Details

Journal of Science and Technology Policy in China, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-552X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2018

Jeff Gruenewald, Brent R. Klein, Grant Drawve, Brent L. Smith and Katie Ratcliff

The purpose of this paper is to provide a metric for validating the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative’s (NSI) sixteen-category instrument, which is…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a metric for validating the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative’s (NSI) sixteen-category instrument, which is designed to guide law enforcement in the collection and analysis of suspicious behaviors preceding serious crimes, including terrorist attacks.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on suspicious preoperational activities and terrorism incident outcomes in the USA between 1972 and 2013 come from the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Using a mixed-method approach, the authors conduct descriptive and multivariate analyses to examine the frequencies of the least and most prevalent suspicious activities (or SAR indicators) and how they predict the likelihood of terrorism prevention. In addition, the authors contextualize how configurations of SAR indicators are associated with the successful thwarting of terrorism incidents by law enforcement using an analytical method known as conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC).

Findings

The study reveals several key findings. First, certain behaviors categorized as suspicious, such as making threats, occur more frequently than others. Second, making threats, conducting surveillance and terrorist recruitment/financing predict law enforcement interdiction in terrorism plots, while misrepresentation (or the manufacturing and use of false documents) is more associated with terrorist success. Third, prevalent SAR indicators operate differently in the context of various combinations of suspicious activities to shape the likelihood for law enforcement interdiction.

Research limitations/implications

The current study’s findings may not be generalizable to other forms of violent extremism and terrorism outside of the USA.

Practical implications

This study illuminates opportunities for the NSI to provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to reduce terrorism risk and prevent future attacks.

Originality/value

To our knowledge, no scholarly work to date has assessed how observable behavioral indicators of suspicious preoperational activities affect the outcomes of terrorist plots.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 42 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 September 2014

Marina Sarno and Vincent B. Van Hasselt

Suicide by cop (SbC) is a growing problem and presents special challenges to crisis (hostage) negotiation teams. The purpose of this paper is to examine current definitions of…

Abstract

Purpose

Suicide by cop (SbC) is a growing problem and presents special challenges to crisis (hostage) negotiation teams. The purpose of this paper is to examine current definitions of SbC, early warning signs of SbC, successful and unsuccessful resolution of cases, and strategies that have proven most effective to resolve these incidents. Recommendations regarding appropriate training and coping strategies in dealing with the post-shooting emotional sequelae of SbC are presented.

Design/methodology/approach

With a dearth of empirical knowledge regarding how to properly respond to SbC crisis incidents, an extensive literature review was conducted to ascertain extant strategies to de-escalate and reduce the lethality of these events.

Findings

Results indicated that SbC crisis incidents are more likely to be resolved if officers provide reassurance for the way that subject's feel, comply with reasonable requests, and offer alternative or realistic options. Establishing rapport by spending time with the subject and utilizing active listening skills can decrease the likelihood of another episode in the future.

Practical implications

These findings have implications for the efficient training of law enforcement officers in general, and crisis negotiators, in particular, in how to appropriately deal with SbC events. The authors also highlight specific errors in negotiation and how to observe early warning signs in the SbC subject to inform prevention and intervention strategies.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the limited literature on crisis negotiation techniques for resolving SbC incidents.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 November 2023

Hussain Syed Gowhor

This study aims to evaluate the suspicious transaction reporting (STR) as a financial intelligence tool to identify the potential strengths and limitations of STR and to come up…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate the suspicious transaction reporting (STR) as a financial intelligence tool to identify the potential strengths and limitations of STR and to come up with the criteria, which will make this tool an effective one in early detection of terrorist financing activities.

Design/methodology/approach

Considering the research aim, this research uses the funnelling method for identifying effectiveness criteria. Funnelling is a method of literature review that helps find pertinent literature by refining the search through filtering the available research (Ridley, 2008). Using this method, the researcher first applied the criteria of actionable intelligence to filter the financial intelligence tools to select the most promising and important tool (suspicious transaction reporting) for early detection of terrorist financing activities. The funnelling method was also applied to derive the effectiveness criteria from the operational features, and corresponding limitations, of the suspicious transaction reporting system. The funnelling method was also used to identify those operational features and limitations of suspicious transaction reporting that have the most direct relevance to the early detection problem of suspicious transaction reporting.

Findings

There are some operational features of STR that give rise to certain limitations that undermine its effectiveness in terms of early detection of terrorist financing activities. The limitations of STR necessitate a search for criteria that will make STR effective in early detection of terrorist financing activities. Based on the operational features and their corresponding limitations, effectiveness criteria for STR have been derived in this study. It is shown how these effectiveness criteria can remove the limitations of STR.

Research limitations/implications

The list of operational features and the corresponding limitations based on which the effectiveness criteria have been derived may not be exhaustive. There may have other operational features, and corresponding limitations that also make STR largely ineffective in the early detection of terrorist financing activities, and for which more effectiveness criteria should also be derived.

Practical implications

The limitations and the effectiveness criteria will pave the way for redesigning STR in such a way that will make it highly useful for detecting financing activities relating to imminent terrorist attacks.

Social implications

The society will experience fewer terrorist attacks that will make the society peaceful, happy and vibrant.

Originality/value

In this study, the effectiveness criteria of STR for early detection of terrorist financing activities have been derived in an innovative way by deducing them from the operational features of STR and the corresponding limitations.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 November 2022

Paresh Wankhade, Geoffrey Heath and Peter Murphy

This chapter identifies the serious issue of the mental health and wellbeing of English paramedics working in the emergency ambulance service. It identifies the case of the extant…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter identifies the serious issue of the mental health and wellbeing of English paramedics working in the emergency ambulance service. It identifies the case of the extant top-down performance measurement regime and the absence of indicators of wellbeing in ambulance performance reporting. The impact of such measures on frontline staff and the implications for their motivation and commitment are also documented. More decentralised, open and discursive approaches to performance management in the public sector are advocated as key methods for re-imagining ambulance and wider public services in a global context.

Design/Method

Drawing on relevant literature, the chapter provides the context of the English ambulance service and the challenges it faces with reference to the New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG). Key issues concerning performance metrics and staff wellbeing and welfare are then identified and discussed. The notions of communicative rationality, deliberative democracy and agonistic pluralism are introduced as a framework for analysing the state of both wellbeing and resilience and the performance regime within the English ambulance service. The chapter relates these themes to the re-imagining of public services internationally, proposing a more participative and discursive approach.

Findings

It is desirable for the evaluation of public services to include the wellbeing of the healthcare provider, as well as the public service recipient. Additionally, there is a case for greater participative and dialogic engagement to address the intertwined relationship of ambulance staff wellbeing and the performance management regime of the service. The process should be revised, therefore, to take into account the wellbeing of ambulance staff as an integral and intrinsic part of the delivery of the service, and it is recommended that deliberative methods of participation are deployed in reimagining ambulance services and public services more generally.

Originality

The challenges facing ambulance services and, more generally, health services globally continue to proliferate and intensify. They are exacerbated by foreseeable contextual challenges such as the demographic profile of patients and service users and budgetary cuts. Traditional and more recent NPM approaches are proving inadequate for this challenge and appear unsustainable in practice. The lack of acknowledgement of welfare indicators in the performance metrics make them unfit for purpose. Our suggested discursive approach would help to re-imagine the service by improving its sustainability and resilience in parallel with the improved wellbeing and personal resilience of the people who provide the service.

Details

Reimagining Public Sector Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-022-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2002

Gregory S. Anderson, Robin Litzenberger and Darryl Plecas

The purpose of the present study was to identify common stressors and the magnitude of stress reactivity in police officers during the course of general duty police work. Using…

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Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to identify common stressors and the magnitude of stress reactivity in police officers during the course of general duty police work. Using heart rate as a primary indicator of autonomic nervous system activation, coupled with observed physical activity data collected through 76 full shift ride‐alongs, this study differentiates between physical and psycho‐social stress. The results, confirming previous research based on self‐report data alone, demonstrate that police officers experience both physical and psycho‐social stress on the job, anticipating stress as they go about their work, while suffering anticipatory stress at the start of each shift. The results demonstrated that the highest levels of stress occur just prior to and during critical incidents, and that officers do not fully recover from that stress before leaving their shift. Overall, the results illustrate the need to consider stress reactivity and repressors in the assessment of police officer stress while clearly demonstrating the need for debriefing after critical incidents and increased training in stress management and coping strategies.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2008

Louise A. Heslop, Irene R.R. Lu and David Cray

The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a longitudinal country‐people image effect model involving a significant negative international incident between countries; study…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a longitudinal country‐people image effect model involving a significant negative international incident between countries; study how such a model changes over time; and study the extent of image recovery in terms of how the offending country, people, and its products are perceived.

Design/methodology/approach

Australian consumers were surveyed before, during, and a decade after the French nuclear testing in the Pacific in 1995. Model testing was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques.

Findings

The model was strongly supported in all three‐time points. During the crisis, negative feelings toward France/French rose and consumers' response to French products dropped. Country‐people competency has risen over country‐people character in explaining product evaluations. In the final period, the Australian views on country‐people character and product response had more than recovered. The country‐people character beliefs now play a significant role in influencing product evaluations after the crisis than before, while the impacts of country‐people competency on product evaluation and response have diminished dramatically. Product evaluation is fairly stable over time.

Originality/value

Studies to date have focused on country image at a point in time in relatively stable environmental conditions. The proposed model is helpful in understanding the processes of country‐product image effects through the study of all attitude components and through differentiation of beliefs about country and people production‐related and non‐production related characteristics. The cross‐temporal validation of the model indicates its usefulness for general applicability in country image effects research.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 25 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

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