Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Fedster + 1,307]

Dr Dave Sloggett looks at the potential for information posted by the public during critical incidents to be harnessed in real-time.

 

By - Dr Dave Sloggett - Police Oracle

1 Comment

 

The panic caused on Oxford Street just before Christmas when incorrect reports circulated on social media suggesting that gunfire had been heard on the London Underground shows how information can quickly affect crowds.

Only weeks earlier in November a similar incident occurred. In both cases there was serious risk that people could have been crushed unnecessarily. A very specific lesson emerges from this incident. Those who seek and command a following on social media need to act responsibly. They should not appoint themselves as sources of information when the initial source is unreliable.

But what of turning around this to make positive use of the posts published by the public? What if, in a real incident, information published by the public could be harnessed for good? To help those involved in creating the operational response shape the scale of any deployment. Across the spectrum of the emergency services.

As the emergency services gears up for the introduction of the replacement for the Airwave System the potential for information, in real-time, to be routed into various layers of command comes closer. Some members of the emergency services have already looked at harnessing the potential of such information. In London the real-time emergency newsfeed shows the potential of how the emergency services can harness such information and add it into their own read-out of an evolving situation.

This is sourced from the public. The often-maligned citizen journalist. This is then shared with the public in an effort to help them understand the situation and avoid areas where they may be in danger. It also provides a vehicle for public reassurance. Helping quickly normalise situations after an incident is closed. Already for routine operations this service is making a difference. But what of the unusual? The rare but high-profile events, such as acts of terrorism or other national emergencies, including cyber-attacks, flooding, pandemics and major fires?

Events at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2013 provided the first clue as to the potential of what is now referred to as ‘crowd-sourced intelligence’. This event lasted for four days. It saw the perpetrators using social media to justify the attack and use it as a flagship for recruitment. To inspire others to follow suit.

The attack also had another more positive outcome. It also showed the authorities what might also be possible as members of the public, caught up in the event, maintained a stream of information concerning what was happening and what they were observing.

The 67 members of the public who died and 175 people injured provide a watermark for attacks in a shopping centre environment. Many of those killed died at the hands of the four terrorists in the most callous way. Being told, by the terrorists, to show themselves if they were hiding as the attack was over. Those that emerged from hiding were gunned-down in cold blood.

The attack at the Westgate Shopping Centre became one catalyst for the introduction of the now well-know reframe in terror attacks that suggest to the public they ‘run, hide and tell’ the authorities what is going on. Recent events, such as the Borough Market attack in London have provided some confirmation of the assimilation of the public of this message.

Looking at the current messaging to the public objectively is it easy to talk about the run and hide elements of the message. These come naturally to human beings. They can be likened to fight or flight responses to a threat. Human beings can also freeze. Like the proverbial rabbit in a headlight. Unsure what to do next.

In the Paris attacks in November 2015 many in the Bataclan Theatre chose to try and play dead. For a large number of those this was a mistake as the terrorists, learning from other incidents, systematically moved amongst the bodies killing those that showed any form of life. It would seem that ‘playing dead’ or freezing in the middle of a terrorist attack is not a great option. 

To some degree what has been overlooked by the authorities is the ‘tell’ aspect of the narrative. How many members of the public would know who to ring? Is it 999? That will already be busy. Moreover, if they get through what should the public tell the first responders? What information may help? The locations of casualties? The absence or presence of fire? The last known location of the people believed to be the terrorists?

While such information may be really helpful those caught up in an incident need to be safe first. Turning down their ring-tone of the phone is an important first step. In the hours following the Charlie Hebdo attack the two terrorists managed to find sanctuary in the premises of a printing company on the outskirts of Paris.

What they did not realise however, was that the night watchman had observed their entry into the building, taken shelter in a cupboard near to where the terrorists were eating supper in the kitchen, and provided a real-time read out to the French Police on what they were saying and planning the next day.

This information, sourced from a member of the public, provided the insight needed to cordon off the area and ensure the attackers were unable to carry out further attacks. In scenes reminiscent of the end of the iconic movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the terrorists were killed by French police as they left the building the next day with a clear intent of murdering more people.

This example shows the potential of real-time publicly-sourced information. It had high operational value to the French police. They knew the location of the terrorists and their intent to continue their rampage. The response was matched to that situation.

While providing the public with yet more information on what to do in the midst of a terrorism incident carries risks of stigmatising communities who already feel on the margins of society a wider perspective has to be taken. If by harnessing social media in real-time the authorities can save a single life it has to be seen to be worthwhile. After all is that not the principle modus-operandi of the emergency services?

Harnessing value from the data in real-time requires specialist skills. This is not an easy thing to do. But state of the art research, led by the Department of Mathematics at Oxford University, suggests that it is indeed possible to do just this kind of real-time analysis.

Combine this with the initiatives around Digital Policing and the investments in combining 999 centres across the emergency services and it is possible to suggest that this kind of capability is not something that is far over the horizon. In an era where much is written about the potential of artificial intelligence to help automate processes it is important to consider if the application of these kind of techniques might also help save lives.  

In Manchester, when a lone bomber struck at the Arena during a music concert, the confusion that inevitably was created in the first few minutes hampered the response. The application of these ideas may just have helped those in command grasp the nature of the threat and allowed them to develop a very different risk assessment as to what was happening.

That just may have helped avoid the problems now being expressed in public by those in the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service who feel they should have been deployed into the arena to help save lives. And the consequential problems of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome that some will be experiencing.

Dr Dave Sloggett is an independent consultant and academic working in the emergency services sector.

View On Police Oracle

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

‘Crowd sourced intelligence’ suggests that law enforcement and fire / health services should go looking for intelligence.

 

However, there is limited scope for MOPs to provide a real time freed to emergency services. I get that it is fraught with danger if someone starts live streaming a crime in progress but that isn’t the case for something like a fire (within reason).

 

Rather than concentrating on crowd sourced intelligence, we need to open up a number of media channels to people who want to report live issues to emergency services in real time.

 

I am not suggesting that people should have an open channel but there is no current mechanism (to my knowledge) where a MOP could be sent a link to upload material or otherwise live stream, as we still have an antiquated view of evidence as something that is tangible that needs to be ‘seized’, as opposed to something that can be shared.

 

It’s not just a police issue- imagine Grenfell. The fire service control room didn’t even have a functioning TV, so struggled to watch live news. But what if they had multiple screens that could have received live feeds from mobile phones? They could have pin pointed properties where people were flashing lights or waving white materials out of the window. Not that it might have made much different difference, but the fire service lacked the capability to draw a real time strategic view from live streamed media.

 

 

[bensonby + 3,503]

The issue with things like Twitter is that it's just chaos and sorting through the proverbial wheat from the chaff is potentially very labour intensive for possibly limited value. 

[Burnsy2023 2,895]

14 hours ago, bensonby said:

The issue with things like Twitter is that it's just chaos and sorting through the proverbial wheat from the chaff is potentially very labour intensive for possibly limited value. 

That's why you wouldn't do it by hand, you would do it using AI and machine learning.

[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

A recipe  for disaster. All you need is one deranged nut case to post fake news, or any false call. Such a case would lead to chaos.  Add in just one or two other of a similar mental disturbance !  Could that with 50 people all trying to send the same thing. Our Communications often struggle with over load without any interference from Social Media.

[Burnsy2023 2,895]

58 minutes ago, Zulu 22 said:

A recipe  for disaster. All you need is one deranged nut case to post fake news, or any false call. Such a case would lead to chaos.  Add in just one or two other of a similar mental disturbance !  Could that with 50 people all trying to send the same thing. Our Communications often struggle with over load without any interference from Social Media.

It wouldn't be difficult to avoid that. This is what machine learning could be really good at detecting.

[andi + 1,262]

We already monitor social media during events and incidents. We have a unit who specialises in it. They use software to comb things like twitter and Facebook and flag up anything of interest, which can then be relayed to silver command.

[Billy Blue Tac 170]

 

20 hours ago, ParochialYokal said:

there is no current mechanism (to my knowledge) where a MOP could be sent a link to upload material or otherwise live stream, 

 

RUN HIDE TELL, 55 Silent Solution and 999 text  are the best we have at the moment

As well as TELL meaning to let others nearby know, it obviously includes dialing 999. But if someone is in hiding and can't speak for fear of discovery there's the "55 Silent Solution." Once connected to the operator just key 55 on your mobile phone and that will  tell them for sure that this is an emergency and that you cannot speak. (It doesn't work yet for landlines IIFC so you need to tap the receiver - hopefully the operator will get the hint.)

Another - and potentially safer - option is to send a text to the emergency operator, but you need to register your mobile number first:  send "register" to 999 and follow the instructions on the return text.

These facilities are not just for CT incidents but can be used in any emergency when it's not possible to speak (eg Mountain Rescue Teams often prefer a text as voice calls can be difficult in bad weather) so I encourage everyon to register and spread the word.

Be safe out there

 

RUN HIDE TELL:
http://www.npcc.police.uk/NPCCBusinessAreas/WeaponAttacksStaySafe.aspx

55 SILENT SOLUTION:
https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-should-review-and-improve-the-informative-given-about-silent-solutions

EMERGENCY TEXT:
http://www.emergencysms.org.uk

 

While you're registering with 999 you might want to consider supporting this as well...
https://www.childrescuealert.org.uk

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by Billy Blue Tac