By Julie Johansen
Kathy McMullin and Alden Orme from the State Office of Emergency Management presented “Recognizing the 8 Signs of Terrorism” to the Local Emergency Planning Committee at the regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday at the Emery County Sheriff’s Office in Castle Dale.
The terrorism presentation was divided into two segments: domestic and international. The FBI definition of terrorism used in the training was, “ Violence or threat calculated to create fear or alarm thereby bringing about social or political change.” Terrorists have very specific goals. Short term goals include causing casualties, disruption of services or to promote a cause. A long term goal is to disrupt an economy or cause psychological damages.
The eight signs of terrorism are:
- Surveillance
- Information gathering
- Testing Security
- Finding funding
- Acquiring supplies
- Impersonations
- Rehearsals
- Deployment
McMullin and Orme encouraged citizens to be proactive and precautious as well as situationally aware. They said to take time to look around you and if you see something, say something.
If one is questioning suspicious activities, the following website will give you a list of suspicious activities that need to be reported, siac.utah.gov. Suspicious activities can be reported directly on the website or to the local sheriff’s office.