Wednesday July 27, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

Everyone is talking about the ubiquitous closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in London.

Over 6000 cameras in the subways and on the busses.
Without the cameras there would be almost no headway into the terrorism investigations of 7-7 or 7-21.
Talk is of placing even more cameras throughout transit systems in the US.

Cameras have been a good tool, but only AFTER the fact.
Did the bombers care that they were being photographed? Not a whit!

Prevention should be the motto, not investigation after the fact.
Terror is not a typical crime that only needs investigating after the fact.
We need to stop the bombers before they do their work.

The best way to stop terror at the transit level is by "behavioral profiling."
Look around.
See how people respond to various questions.
Watch how they react in target environments.
Transit Security Personnel must be a presence that is seen and that is felt.
Trained security personnel must vigilantly, constantly, monitor the CCTV’s while the action is live.
Rewinding the videotape is just not good enough.