The Parkland, Florida, high school shooting yesterday once again underscores the continual need to prevent these incidents. Prevention strategies tend to follow along the same path of hardening these soft targets: Metal detectors or increased/more visible security measures. The main counterbalance to these strategies is, of course, money.
While news regarding this shooting continues to develop, sources are reporting the shooter had a significant online presence. It appears there were escalating comments and posts. Was it possible to have previously predicted this shooter’s violent activities?
The Tactical Decision Making Research Group believes it may indeed be possible. Their research on Identifying Vulnerable Persons (IVP) provides a framework for this approach. Originally developed for non-intelligence and non-law enforcement professionals to utilize, IVP lays out a outline for evaluating an individual’s social media footprint.
Scot A. Terban recently posted about violent extremist usage of social media. His article focuses mostly on Daesh (ISIS) and other violent Islamic extremist individuals. The IVP also tends to focus on violent Islamic extremists. However, I would argue there is a need for this same scrutiny to be applied to sovereign citizens, white supremacists, and other domestic terror-based collectives.
Other thoughts?
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