Policing

EXCLUSIVE: Combating Terror Threats Against Police

In 2015, terrorists embracing a myriad of ideologies attacked police worldwide 2,159 times in 58 countries, the US State Department reported. In fact, in 2015, police were the second most frequent target of terrorists, after private citizens and their property.

Globally, terrorists have attacked police using a variety of tactics, including bombings, grenades, landmines, gunfire, arson, vehicular attacks and stabbings. The settings of terror attacks against police comprised police stations, vehicles, housing and training facilities, checkpoints and in other locations (while providing security, at home, while commuting). Other instances in which terrorists and non-terrorists attacked police include ambush and arrest situations, during the investigation of suspicious persons/circumstances, traffic stops, during protests and tactical situations (responding to a barricaded offender, during a hostage taking and while arresting a high-risk offender).

Terrorists view police as an instrumentality of the oppressor state. As such, police are perceived as a legitimate target. After all, police can aid in undermining terror group activities, from radicalization and recruitment, to financing and kinetic activities. Indeed, police have inflicted damage to terror groups’ goals—by arresting or killing key leadership and operatives, including in the aftermath of an attack.