Stewarding Situational Awareness and Highly Perishable Information
Abstract
The aim is to examine the concept of ‘highly perishable information’, and how an individual security person (police, security guard or steward) in high-density crowds achieves situational awareness. The specific focus is on the perception level issues, identifying the typical barriers to achieving situational awareness for volunteer stewards. This will look at case studies about stewards working in mass public events, and also lessons learned about public situational awareness from the Haymarket and London Underground incidents, amongst other examples. Recent research explores training and recruitment requirements for the 2012 Olympics volunteers, and identifies some issues that may be relevant to overcoming barriers to achieving lone situational awareness. This is then examined as an interposing tactics problem. The key finding is that recruitment of people likely, due to employment, education or community involvement to have greater situational awareness, can help offset a lack of suitable training. However, this nevertheless represents a reduced capability. This is because, the impact organisationally is an increased need to intensify command and control management.
AUTHORS
Terrorism Research Centre, Washington DC
Christopher Flaherty is a Senior Research Associate at the Terrorism Research Center in Washington, D.C. He has a PhD in Economic Relations from the University of Melbourne with a focus on networking. Following this, he pursued a career in defence and security research in the Australian Department of Defence. Dr. Flaherty has been based in London since 2008. A Senior Research Associate of the Terrorism Research Center (TRC), he regularly contributes to its current publications. He is also the co-primary author of Body Cavity Bombers: The New Martyrs (iUniverse 2013). Two essays of his from 2003 and 2010 were reprinted in the TRC book: Fifth Dimensional Operations (iUniverse 2014). He is also the author of Australian Manoeuvrist Strategy (Seaview Press 1996). He has been an active contributor on security, terrorism early warning, and related international intelligence issues, including tactics, techniques, and procedures analysis, published in the TRC report ‘Dangerous Minds’ (2012). He also has a long-term involvement in the microsimulation and risk modelling group.
Published In
Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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