Developing Policies for Countering Terrorism

Target Suitability and Terrorism Events at Places

“…One way to direct resources efficiently to specific areas within counties may be to, as LaFree and Bersani () and Wormeli () suggested, examine terrorist events at smaller levels of geographic aggregation, such as communities, blocks, or street segments. This approach would require a different theoretical framework and should focus on identifying the environmental features of micro‐places that result in suitable targets for terrorist events.…”

“…Their results indicated that high levels of ethnic and language heterogeneity, residential instability, and urbanization are related to higher levels of terrorism, whereas county‐level concentrated disadvantage is negatively related to terrorism activity. They suggested that counterterrorism policies implement law‐enforcement–based strategies that encompass elements from community‐based policing (LaFree and Bersani, ; Pelfrey, ) and tactics from problem‐oriented policing (Wormeli, ).…”

Preventing Terrorism: Complex Social, Scientific, and Political Tasks

“…From a policy perspective, both Wormeli (, this issue) and Pelfrey (, this issue) believe that LaFree and Bersani's () findings represent an important step forward in preventing terrorism. Wormeli and Pelfrey argue that the ability to predict, using science‐based methods, possible targets for terrorist groups should help policy makers and homeland security personnel develop preventive counterterrorism policies and strategies, particularly on counties with the highest odds of suffering a terrorist attack.…”

“…According to Wormeli (), counties with higher possibilities of experiencing a terrorist attack might need more surveillance and active policing. However, he notes that such practices should be closely evaluated to prevent any violation against civil rights and liberties.…”

“…He claims that preventing terrorist activities within the United States is a task that involves all law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Wormeli () argues that although LaFree and Bersani () find that terrorism attacks are more prevalent in higher urbanized counties than in lower urbanized counties, many of the worst terrorist attacks have been planned and developed by terrorists in small suburban or rural communities. Wormeli's statement makes it clear that efforts to prevent further terrorist attacks on American soil will have to involve constant information sharing among the three levels of government.…”