Recall this strange incident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Douglas_Wells
Reading Schneier on Security blog one commentator posted this response:
"So the cops handcuffed this guy and leaned him up against a cruiser and then hid behind stuff and watched him struggle to extricate him self from the handcuffs while waiting for him to blow up? Wow, hope I never get help like that. They should have poured honey on him to attract ants as well.
They could at least have put some earplugs in his ears and tucked a folded flak vest between his chest and the bomb to give him a shot at surviving before they buggered off, just in case he actually was an innocent victim."
Indeed! That does seem like the optimally decent thing to do. Although such incidences are rare, and more likely to be hoaxes than not, first responders need to engage with potential victims by assuming they are victims and then from that point trying to minimize the harm caused by any IED type object attached to said victim(s), assuring the safety of bystanders.
BUT WAIT! Is this really best practice for LEO and other first responders? The Israeli government has already worked out through extensive experience the best practices in these situations which, we are calling for lack of better term "unorthodox hostage situations." So we should defer to their treatment of the subject matter.
The Israel Government's response is to assume that anyone with a bomb is a suicide bomber, and not a victim of a so-called "collar bomb" or other device. Therefore they tend to shoot on sight any such person when and where shooting them would not incur a greater risk of loss of life, etc. How that gets trained for in Israel is something difficult to uncover through an Internet search increasingly due to the securitization of counter-terrorism best practices. Securitization means information that was previously "open source" and "public knowledge" is increasingly being withdrawn behind firewalls ostensibly to deny potential enemies "access to operational knowledge and capabilities."
Perhaps the Russian CT units ROE in the Belsan Seige and the Moscow Theater hostage crises are also instructive here?
So what to do?
Again, Schneier's commentors comes through:
"Sounds like the cops did their job. If there's nothing you can do, nothing is a good thing to do. Getting someone killed because they play EOD-like-in-the-movies and start cutting wires at random is not going to solve anything for anyone. Getting the hell out of the way and waiting for the people who know what they're doing is a smart move.
BUT WAIT! Is this really best practice for LEO and other first responders? The Israeli government has already worked out through extensive experience the best practices in these situations which, we are calling for lack of better term "unorthodox hostage situations." So we should defer to their treatment of the subject matter.
The Israel Government's response is to assume that anyone with a bomb is a suicide bomber, and not a victim of a so-called "collar bomb" or other device. Therefore they tend to shoot on sight any such person when and where shooting them would not incur a greater risk of loss of life, etc. How that gets trained for in Israel is something difficult to uncover through an Internet search increasingly due to the securitization of counter-terrorism best practices. Securitization means information that was previously "open source" and "public knowledge" is increasingly being withdrawn behind firewalls ostensibly to deny potential enemies "access to operational knowledge and capabilities."
Perhaps the Russian CT units ROE in the Belsan Seige and the Moscow Theater hostage crises are also instructive here?
So what to do?
Again, Schneier's commentors comes through:
"Sounds like the cops did their job. If there's nothing you can do, nothing is a good thing to do. Getting someone killed because they play EOD-like-in-the-movies and start cutting wires at random is not going to solve anything for anyone. Getting the hell out of the way and waiting for the people who know what they're doing is a smart move.
Danish police did the same thing last year when a would-be terrorist managed to fsck up and set off his bomb while he was working on it (it was TATP so not too surprising). He got away from the scene and was found later in a nearby park, wearing a belt pouch. They cuffed him and stood off a bit, just in case, as letting him bleed on the pavement was better than risking having extra casualties (a brave doctor in a flak jacket had a look at him and pronounced him fit to wait). EOD eventually got there and found out that there was no risk but it was a smart move regardless. Link: http://eb.dk/112/article1408238.ece,in Danish but there's an amateur recording of the goings on in the park.
Oh, and that bomber had more luck than he deserved. When it went boom he was disassembling his first bomb and making it into a letter bomb, with a handfull of ball bearings thrown in, in a small room. Getting away with scratches is damn lucky.
Posted by: grumpy at December 29, 2011 6:01 AM"
Lessons From Israel in Thinking About the Unthinkable
By Ori Nir
Published January 24, 2003, issue of January 24, 2003.
"Protocols based on Israel’s experience with suicide bombings have been prepared for the LAPD, with other police forces around the nation following suit. Instructions on dealing with suicide bombings are a part of the LAPD Supervisor School curriculum and recruit training; security tactics for guarding high-profile VIP events are following Israeli police techniques, and Israeli public-awareness initiatives on suicide bombers are serving as a model for similar programs in the United States.
Morten’s initial goal was to use the lessons he learned to prepare police officers and firefighters in Los Angeles to handle such bombings. Due to nationwide interest in suicide bombings among law-enforcement agencies, Morten has become a traveling teacher of sorts, sharing his lessons with approximately 5,000 police, military and fire-fighting personnel around the country.
Although he’s the most visible American law-enforcement student of Israel’s suicide-bombing response tactics, Morten is not the only one, said Marsha Halteman, director of corporate and community programs at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington, which arranged a meeting with Morten and a small group of reporters recently. Dozens of American police, intelligence and medical personnel have visited Israel, particularly following the September 11 attacks, to learn how to handle suicide bombings.
“Everybody is interested in this information,” said Morten, who devised a set of guidelines for first-responders — police officers, firefighters and paramedics — on handling a suicide-bombing crime-scene. “We are trying to get this information to whoever wants to know and needs to know, and we encourage them to use these lessons.” The LAPD now has plans to train all of its 9,000 officers in handling suicide bombings — a process that would be completed within three to four months, Morten said."
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