Yesterday the nation was captivated by breaking news about three young women and a child who escaped captivity after being kidnapped about 10 years ago. There is some controversy now about whether community residents took notice of suspicious activity and called police. A Chicago Tribune report discusses this issue in which some conflict exists as to whether anyone had information which could have led to earlier police action to free the victims. This brings to mind the tragic and popular March 1964 story of Kitty Genovese who was stabbed and sexually assaulted near her Queens, NY apartment building while multiple bystanders took no action help her. The correlation to Cleveland is not too far of a stretch. There is a field of academic study on situations such as this. Social scientists call this the Bystander Affect which, in summary, suggests that in times of a crisis, the more people present will result in less people taking action for a number of reasons including a diffusion of responsibility (when more are present) and behaving in a socially acceptable way (when less people are present).
The connection to homeland security and emergency management comes when we look at today's efforts to have the public participate in security by serving as observers and reporters. The See Something Say Something program which began in New York has gone national in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Considering the Bystander Effect, a question comes to mind as to whether we can rely on the public to say something if they see something or simply see something and do nothing. There is some data out there which shows that while numerous calls are made to terror tip hotlines, See Something Say Something has led to zero terrorist arrests. Is that the only metric in which to gauge the program? I would add that calls regarding suspicious packages such as an unattended backpack on a subway platform, is a valuable metric. Then we can add a separate indicator as to what the outcome of the call and investigation was. Was the suspicious package an explosive device or just some kid's school books? Let me turn to the Boston terrorist bombings. It is unclear whether the public would have had enough reaction time even if someone saw the backpacks, however, this incident should serve as a stark reminder of how valuable saying something if you see something can be. The street vendor who reported a suspicious auto in Times Square in May 2010 is an example of someone seeing something and saying something.
We all have a role in public safety and security. In the wake of the Boston bombings and with the Cleveland incident in mind, we need to amplify our efforts to enlist the help of the public in reporting suspicious activity and suspicious packages. While I am not suggesting a siege mentality, the reality is that security and law enforcement assets are reliant upon good information. That information comes from an aware, informed and, participating citizenry.
Steven Kuhr
Emergency Management Nexus
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