Arbaco 16-Octo-2024 {HMC} The U.S. agency charged with protecting the life of the president of the United States and other high-ranking officials wants state and local law enforcement to do more to stop potential threats from escalating into violence.
And it is trying to show police agencies across the country exactly how to do it.
The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) on Wednesday issued a new guide, encouraging law enforcement agencies to create specific units to address threatening behavior in cases where there are significant concerns, even though no laws have been broken.
The guide specifically calls for police agencies to set up what NTAC calls behavioral threat assessment units that can assess potential dangers and then provide resources to make sure individuals get help before they resort to violence.
“What our research has continuously found is that in many cases of mass violence or other forms of targeted violence, the attacker’s behavior was witnessed by community bystanders, some of whom sought to report their concerns to public safety officials,” said Lina Alathari, NTAC director, briefing reporters ahead of the guide’s release.
“Unfortunately, many communities lack the structured systems to receive, evaluate and respond to these reports in a way that would reduce the likelihood of a violent or tragic outcome,” she said.
NTAC’s plea for law enforcement agencies to find ways to be more proactive is not new.
A January 2023 report that analyzed 173 mass attacks carried out over a five-year period urged communities to make it easier for witnesses to report concerns and allow for earlier intervention from crisis counselors and social services.
