Canadian policing plus (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

American Pride cited in part:

In the era of big data though, I wonder how much of the challenges of searching for the 'lone wolf' can be minimized insofar as identifying and detecting a specific pattern of behavior that indicates a potential threat.

Identification of a lone wolf / wolves I expect has been discussed here before, especially as there appears to be a strong overlap with the more regular shootings at US schools and colleges - which kill many more people than most lone wolfs / loners. Except Breivik in Norway and a certain US Army officer.

There are at least three relevant threads, lone wolves in the USA: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=17199 a more general thread on non-US lone wolves:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=16226 and the US CT thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=8828

I am sceptical that 'big data' can help. Are their behaviour patterns recorded as data and so available for searching? In some communities mental illness carries such "baggage" that it is dealt without external, non-family help and drug abuse - which features in the Ottawa murder - can be treated in confidence by agencies that do not report.

Cross-posting a useful reference source, in a book review:http://myemail.constantcontact.com/W...id=NTVA0fJIrmM

Yes some wolves maybe identified by intelligence work, especially if on a case by case basis public and private agencies are prepared to report their concerns.

Nor should we overlook the role of parents, families and friends who are finally driven to report concerns over an individual.

Big snag is will such information arrive at the right place to assess and action. I fear in many places it will be a first responder or a call-taker who will screen out such a warning signal.

[davidbfpo]

Thanks to Twitter two useful academic references to US-UK research, one is online and the other only an abstract. The theme is Mental Illness and Lone-Actor Terrorism, although far more is covered.

Article:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...029.12312/full

Abstract:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25133916

What is of note is that a third of:

Lone-actor terrorists regularly engaged in a detectable and observable range of activities with a wider pressure group, social movement, or terrorist organization.

[omarali50]

Wouldnt it make more sense to revoke their passports AFTER they got to Syria, land of the barrel bomb and other delights...

[davidbfpo]

Wouldnt it make more sense to revoke their passports AFTER they got to Syria, land of the barrel bomb and other delights...

That certainly has been discussed as an option, in the UK and Canada. It does have a number of negative and positive aspects.

One downside is that those who change their minds and seek to return cannot readily return. I understand that making someone stateless has some legal issues.