Aiding Police in the Detection of Imminent Terrorist Attacks: Testing Different Approaches to Improving Situation Assessment Skills

Since the 2001 terror attacks in the United States, counter-terrorism strategies have become a security priority for many nations. More recently, the upsurge of ‘home-grown’ extremists and those returning home from foreign conflicts represents a significant risk to public safety. Unfortunately, the pre-identification of would-be terrorists is an extremely difficult task for law enforcement, especially in the final stages of a planned attack. The authors detail two training approaches that could be used to improve law enforcement officers’ situation assessment skills. The paper details research in progress involving the development of virtual-reality training programs, which each simulate environments that are presumably vulnerable to terror attacks (e.g., public transport), but differ in their approach to improving situation assessment, and subsequent performance in the detection of terrorism risks (i.e., sensitizing trainees to diagnostic cues vs. unguided cue discovery in complex, ecologically valid environments).