NSW Police Commissioner emphasises importance of guidelines on disrupting hostile reconnaissance in crowded places

July 12, 2023

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has today spoken of the significance of the recently released Disrupting Hostile Reconnaissance Guidelines for Crowded Places, released in April by the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC).

Speaking at the inaugural VSX Venue Safety and Security Exchange conference in Sydney, Commissioner Webb, advised that managers of major venues, visitor attractions and places of mass gathering need to be aware of their responsibilities for protecting their sites.

The Strategy for Protecting Crowded Places from Terrorism notes that all owners and operators of crowded places have a duty of care to take steps to protect people that work, use or visit their site from a range of foreseeable threats, including the threat of terrorism.

Crowded places are a preferred terrorist target because of the high volume and concentration of people making them attractive to attack. Crowded places pose a broad range of security challenges for owners, operators and those responsible for protecting the location.

The Guidelines advise that “a number of terrorists worldwide have been detected by bystanders who acted on their initial suspicion that something was ‘not quite right’ about an individual’s activity and reported this to authorities.”

It adds “persons working in crowded places and members of the public are often best placed to detect suspicious behaviour.

“Owners and operators of crowded places should do everything they can to raise awareness of possible suspicious behaviour among those using their sites. Owners and operators are also expected to report any security incidents or suspicious activity to law enforcement at the earliest opportunity.”

The document also explains that “it is the responsibility of both Government and private sector stakeholders to work collaboratively to ensure that integrated and effective plans and arrangements are in place to prevent or reduce the impact of terrorism.”

What is Hostile Reconnaissance?
Hostile reconnaissance is the purposeful observation of people, vehicles, buildings, places, and spaces to collect information that informs the planning of an attack against a specific target by people with hostile intent. It may be conducted onsite, online and may also include rehearsals, where one or more elements of the plan are practised.

Hostiles have a fear of failure - they want to be confident their attack will be successful. To build that confidence hostiles need to gather information on their target and may be anxious when collecting that information, aware that what they are planning is illegal.

The primary objectives of hostile reconnaissance are for hostiles to collect information that will help them to:

Identify an appropriate target
Understand the layout of the site/event
Determine the best method of attack
Determine the best time to conduct an attack
Identify vulnerabilities in protective security measures

Analysis of previous incidents indicates that some form of reconnaissance and/or rehearsal will likely occur prior to an attack. Detection and intervention of hostile reconnaissance may lead to an attack plan being abandoned and may produce valuable intelligence leads.

The Guidelines have been developed by the Crowded Places Sub Committee (CPSC) on behalf of the ANZCTC.

It is recommended that they be read in conjunction with Australia’s Strategy for Protecting Crowded Places from Terrorism and supplementary materials available at www.nationalsecurity.gov.au

Click here to view the new Guidelines.

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