Terror threat

Studying public reaction before and after a terror attack

It is a rare opportunity when public policy professionals have information at their fingertips for comparing public views around a traumatic event before implementing new policies. A new study, which analyzed the public’s risk perception regarding terrorist attacks, was presented at the 19-21 June conference of the Society for Risk Analysis in Lisbon, Portugal, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. 

SRA says thatin the study, “Changes in terror related risk perceptions in Germany after the Berlin Christmas market attack,” authors Kristina Stumpf, Daniela Knuth, and Silke Schmidt, from the Department of Health and Prevention at University of Greifswald, Germany, examine how those exposed to local terrorist acts through media sources perceive the risk of terrorism before and immediately after an event—and discuss how that difference in perception may shape measures that are proposed in response.