What is terrorism? and how can it affect you and the day to day running of your venue? These and other questions will be answered in this short informative article.

Terrorism: The unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence against individuals or property, in an attempt to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, to achieve political, financial, religious or idealogical gain.

Acts of terrorism vary in terms of scale and purpose. Some causing superficial damage, some to cause public distress, some to draw attention to a particular cause and some that carry more deadly intent.

The most significant threat comes from international terror acts and their ambitions to mount high impact attacks that combine mass casualties with substantial disruption to key services like public transport and communications. For venues in and around central London it is paramount that you and your staff take extra care as it comes closer to historic or important days in the British calendar and have the right security team with experience in place handling and assessing these particular risks.

Businesses face a range of threats that possess the potential to cause significant disruption. 

These can include disgruntled past employees

Competitors

Activist groups

Organised crime 

Religious extremists

Political groups

Terrorists aim to enforce change through violence and intimidation, its as simple as that.

Terrorist tactics tend to favour attacks that exploit vulnerabilities and avoid effective countermeasures. These groups have the capabilities to make use of different types of terrorism tactics depending on the circumstances and the likelihood of their success. 

These include:

Shootings

Hijackings

Kidnappings 

Bombings 

Suicide attacks 

And in recent years we’ve seen vehicle used as weapons too. 

Of course you also have the unconventional tactics like cyber, bio etc but for now we’ll focus on the big 6.

1. Stay alert especially if your venue is located in a crowded place, near to or hosting an event, public transport, and iconic locations as these could be potential targets.

2. Watch out for things out the ordinary. You're familiar with your workplace and surrounding area, so you’re ideally placed to spot when something is amiss. Remain vigilant, trust your instincts and report possible terrorist activity to the police or your security team.

3. Watch people in or near the venue for suspicious behaviour such as loitering, recording unusual parts of the building, present but not quite “there” etc

4. Depending on your location and the threat level you can also instruct your security team to carry out bag searches before entering the venue etc 

Case study No.1

London Bridge Attack

June, 2017, London Bridge located in Central London was attacked by Islamic extremists whereby a van swerved off the road and struck several pedestrians on London Bridge. After the van crashed its three occupants ran to the nearby Borough Market area and began stabbing people near to the restaurants and pubs. A good friend of ours and local door supervisor saved countless lives when he hurled bar stools and glasses at the attackers. There were 8 confirmed killed 48 injured including four unarmed police officers. The three attackers who wore fake S-vests/Suicide vests were shot dead by police at the scene. The incident came less than three months after five people were killed in a similar vehicle ramming attack further over west in Westminster.

Case study No.2

Manchester Arena Bombing 

The Manchester arena bombing was an Islamic extremist terror attack in Manchester, United Kingdom. On 22nd May 2017, a shrapnel filled, homemade improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated as people were leaving the arena following a concert by the singer Ariana Grande. Twenty three people were confirmed killed including the attacker whilst a total of 512 people were reported to be left injured or traumatised.

We urge you and your staff to stay alert in 2024, don’t brush things off and always trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right then chances are it isn’t.. See it, Report it, Stay SAFE!