Community Counterterrorism Initiative - Term Paper Example

?Community Counter-terrorism Initiatives: Introduction: The proposal for community counter terrorism was a sketch that was brought about by the leaders of the community and other bodies in order to fight terrorism in the society. The initiative of the community to oppose terrorism will help the neighbourhood to defy against terrorism actions by preparing themselves before time. Terror campaign has turned out to be a familiar problem in the civilization. In general, countries like United States have practised violent deeds that have led into immense demolition of material goods and living. The terrorist attack on September 11 has caused enormous devastation to the society. Nevertheless, the administration had taken serious actions to avert such terror campaign performances but it did not handle to put off the terrorist assault. The management did not have retort systems to aware people of the assault. This was quite difficult for the society to avert the attack. The attack of September 11 strained the government to build up ways to put off terrorism actions like cultural profiling and enrichment of safety measures. Communities have opted to oppose terrorism initiatives to avoid the coming terrorism attacks. The community counter terrorism proposal focussed in avoiding any terrorist assault in the society. Terrorist proceedings have become very familiar in the public like bombing. Terrorists have regularly bombed many constructions leading to deaths. The counter terrorism plan will assist to stop the bombing of many buildings in the district. The programme stated the methods to be used to oppose the terrorist harassment. (Staub, 2000; Pope & Gutheil, 2008). Potential impacts of terrorists attacks: The attacks of terrorism have unfavourable effects on humanity and on the nation itself. Such attacks lead to have psychological, behavioural, and neurobiological shock to the civilization. Moreover, such terrorist attacks root to have cognitive effects on the community. It also influenced elderly and disabled people. Vivid research has been done to establish the shock of terrorism on kids, aged people and other people in the community. Researchers disagreed that terrorism like other tragedies has caused gloominess among the victims and their families. The sufferers suffer out of huge losses as a result it becomes very difficult for them to come out of the loss and pain and to live again a normal healthy livelihood. (American psychological association., 2007; American Psychological Association, 2008). Moreover, terrorism incited terror and ambiguity among the people in the community. The fright spread from one individual to the other in the community. The mental effects of such terror campaigns were felt by each individual in the community. Some people were directly affected while others were affected indirectly. Terrorism actions caused death which affected the victims and their related family members. (Society for Military Psychology; 2007). After an attack, the emotional agony was more extensive than any bodily injuries. The shock of a terrorist attack is so severe on their mental state that it becomes nearly impossible to cope up with the situation. The reaction to huge losses all a time, within a fraction of second has severe impacts on the poor people who suffer such deadly attacks. Such mental shock can remain for a smaller period of time or it might extend to years to revive out of such disorder. (Behnke, 2006; Behnke, 2007) Short term psychosomatic effects stay for a short span of time like any kind of fear. This occurs instantly after the terrorist attack. (Behnke, 2006; Behnke, 2007) Long term mental effects can consist of gloominess owing to all kinds of losses due to terrorism. Furthermore, such effects have deep impact on kids. Most of the kids and aged people undergo such fear after a terrorist campaign. (Staub, 2000). There are also behavioural impacts on the members of the community. People who are out to such terrorism actions exhibit different behaviours (Staub, 2000).  Researchers like Stein, Jaycox, Marc and Elliott have done extensive research to establish the impact of the shock of terrorism on kids and aged people and highlighted that terrorism actions have caused behavioural disarray among all those who were at danger. The research concluded that kids and aged people opened to terrorism actions were separated from other associates in the community and prefer to remain alone because they found it difficult to handle the condition. (Staub, 2003). Terrorism actions have led kids, survivors to use alcohol and drugs in order to rise above the devastation caused by the incident (Stein et al. 2004) .Researchers (Stein,  et al. 2004) claimed that the number drugs intakes have increased gradually because the sufferers are not assisted in the right way at the right time to beat over the struggle. Terrorism has moreover led to other anti-communal behaviours like prostitution and doing other crimes. The sufferers become extra cautious to any kind of threats which is generally escorted by nervousness and tiredness as a result the victims become restless and exhausted. This has a negative effect on kids and aged people and others who survived out of it, leading to post upsetting disorders (Staub, 2003). Hyper awareness is a symptom of post traumatic trauma disorder as or other nervousness disorders, if not provided the right care, it can lead even to death or other disorders. The victims even fear to leave their place so not to be attacked (Stein et al. 2004 ) thus leading to social separation. The victims struggle to evade any incident that brings in any memory of that dreadful day. The victims also suffer out of aggression caused by such trauma. (Staub, 2003). Moreover, studies have highlighted that terrorism have cognitive effects. Such attacks (Walser et al. 2004) affect the brain thereby leading to various psychological problems. Researchers like Walser, Ruzek, Naugle, and Padesky founded that the impact of disasters on mental health lead to uncertainty among aged people, kids, survivors and the first respondents. This is because the brain cells get damaged thereby unable to sensor any kind of signals. (American Psychological Association, 2007). Furthermore, terrorism also leads to cognitive disorders mainly on children suffering to have poor concentration in their studies (Walser et al. 2004). Also, the aged people and disabled people have trouble in concentration power. Terrorism leads to brain injuries thereby resulting to have poor memory of the ones who faced such terrorist attack. The brain is accountable for learning and it retrieves information accordingly. There are certain brain parts that are responsible for reposing information. Such terrorist attacks have a major impact on mental health of the victims thereby causing brain injuries and wearing out of cells. This leads to the sufferers to suffer from having poor memory and poor concentration problems as the as the brain cells get worn out thereby unable to send ant related signals accordingly. (Pope & Gutheil, 2008). Finally, terrorism has neurobiological effects resulting to neurological disorders. Terrorism leads to brain and spinal chord injuries, which affects the functioning of the nervous system thereby leading to various neurological problems. The ones who have survived out of such attacks, the children, aged people and first responders have various neurological disorders that are caused due to such devastating terrorist activities. They have injuries in their brain and spinal cord which causes weakens their mental and psychological state as a result their responsive impulse weakens. (Behnke, 2007). Counter - Terrorism initiatives: There are different groups working for the community counter terrorism proposal. The group includes the initial responders, media and the aid institutes. The group have different responsibilities during the action. The First responders are the release team or the workers of some emergency medical campaign. They are the associates of the confined neighbourhood. The first responders play a very important role in the counter terrorism movement as they get involved during terrorism performances. The first responders are needed to save lives. Hypothetical they have to safeguard themselves so as to save the sufferers as soon as possible, thereby intending to prevent further deaths and grievances. The first responders need to perceive the likelihood of a terrorist attack and take necessary actions accordingly so as to manage the situation even before anything happens. The first responders should know the significance and the right ways of assisting the victims. The first responders should also have the right knowledge in sustaining and creating a terrorism free zone. The first responders should also gather resources to be used during the rescue program. The community counter terrorism plan needs various resources in order to attain the set objectives. The team are taught and trained on the ways to provide medical aid to the victims so that while performing their duty on the time of the attack it will be easier for the rescuers to handle the situation.(Behnke, 2007). Media has helped in various ways to prevent terrorism in the society. The media has been a huge medium who have helped in educating the society to conquer the effects of terrorism like misery, trauma and post shocking disorders. The media also helped to keep all informed about any further attack. They kept on giving timely alerts if they oversee any possibility of any further attack. (Behnke, 2006). Moreover, the aid campaigns also play various vital roles. The Aid institutes will offer compassionate help to the victims. A relief institute is a group that focuses in assisting the sufferers by offering housing amenities, medical aids, ration and garments. The Aid organizations help to avert high death rates. There are different aid organizations in the society which are moreover Christian based military or benevolent organizations. For instance, hospitals, churches and other aid organizations should team up with the counter terrorism administration team to check terrorism activities in the community.(Behnke, 2006) There are different intercession and post intrusion approaches that can aid the victims of terrorism. Firstly, the aid organizations should supply medical help and stress managing interventions to facilitate the survivors. They should also provide counselling services to the victims so that can come out of the trauma and pain. (Behnke, 2006). There are certain disaster response plans which work to prevent disasters in the society. These contain crisis communication strategies and rescue policies. The communities counter terrorism management team involved in the implementation of the initiative will use the communication system to communicate information in case of any disaster. They will be using current technology to make it effective as possible so as to meet the objectives set. (Behnke, 2006). Another approach is the rescue strategy. The first responders should be skilled enough to handle any terrorism activities. First responders should be able to wear protective jacket so as to help the victims of the disaster thereby preventing further deaths and injuries.(Behnke, 2006). There are also prevention plans to prevent terrorism activities. The counter terrorism team should extend an alarm system with the right technology to alert the community of any further attack. The members occupied in the implementation of the counterterrorism initiative should be skilled properly to use the system effectively. This will ease to provide rapid services during an attack (Behnke, 2006). The post intervention abilities include counselling and medical abilities. The counter terrorism group should have put up counselling, medical and relief strategies. The counselling strategies will counsel and handle the needs the victims of the attack. Moreover, the group should provide medical services to all the sufferers. The first responders should be medically skilled so that they can save lives. They should be capable to offer aid to the patient on time (American Psychological Association, 2008). There are moral and cultural thoughts related to prevent terrorism activities. The moral issues include solitude and privacy. The team should keep any information related to the victim very confidential. The team of the counter terrorism campaign should gain their belief so that the sufferers can share their sufferings with them. This will help the victims to a certain extent to lighten their burden of pain and grief. The team should also in turn respect their thought and keep all the information within them and must not share with any other people or group. This will guarantee the community counter terrorism initiative to deliver quality services to the victims. Moreover the community counter terrorism team should admire the cultural values and beliefs and will not be biased so as to turn away from interfering with the cultural beliefs and values. The concerned should gather information during counselling and medical services in the proper way so as to evade any kind of discrimination. The sufferers should not feel left out while they perform the aid activity. (American Psychological Association, 2008). There are probable risks and flexibility factors that influence the revival of the victims. Firstly, the extent of damage and despair caused during the attack will make it difficult for the victims to recover as they undergo huge losses. While some experiences a loss of their property, some others experience the loss of their near and dear ones. People who have undergone huge loses in such attacks are expected to have more strain than the ones who have not. This will influence the treatment given to the victims thereby affecting the whole recovery process. The probable risk is the fear of being caught up in another attack (Society for Military Psychology, 2007). Conclusion: The community counter terrorism plan will assist to put a check on terrorist attack in the society by the help of the media, the relief institutes and first responders performing their duties with their respective roles. For instance, the first responders will save the terrorist sufferers. The aid organizations will offer compassionate support to the victims. The media will facilitate to recognize further terrorist attacks. The arrangement will comprise of different schemes like rescue arrangement, communication and alarm arrangement. The rescue team will help in aiding the victims with proper medical and revival support. The communication arrangement will be such to provide information as and when required. The alarm management will be such that it will alarm people much before any further attacks or any disaster. The post interference strategies dealt with medical actions and psychotherapy strategies. Terrorism has affected the aged, kids, disabled, survivors and first responders. It has led to social disorder, cognitive, emotional, behavioural and neurological related problems. Terrorism has caused panic and melancholy among the wounded ones. Researchers helped to highlight the consequence of terrorism on small kids. The revitalization of the ones who survived depends on the extent of the damage and trauma led by terrorism. The   community counter terrorism squad will admire the cultural principles, beliefs and the solitude of the victim while performing such preventive programs. Reference 1. American psychological association. (2007). Association submitted to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: Psychology & interrogations. Available at from http://intelligence.senate.gov/070925/apa.pdf (on 120th May, 2011) 2. American Psychological Association (2008). Statement of the American Psychological Association. Retrieved from Available at http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2008/08/apa-statement.aspx (on 120th May, 2011) 3. Society for Military Psychology. (2007). Comments on the Draft APA council resolution "Moratorium on Psychologist Involvement in Interrogations at US Detention Centers for Foreign Detainees". Available at http://www.apa.org/ethics/programs/position/reports/div-19-response.pdf (on 120th May, 2011). 4. Stein, B.D., Jaycox, H.L., & Marc N. Elliott, N.M. (2004). The Emotional and Behavioral Impact of Terrorism on Children: Results from a National Survey Applied Developmental Science, 8(4): 184 - 194 5. Behnke, S. H. (2006). Psychological ethics and national security: The position of the American Psychological Association. European Psychologist, 11(2): 153–155. 6. Behnke, S. H. (2007). Letters to the editor III: An open letter from Stephen Behnke. Psychologist-psychoanalyst, 27(4): 9–11. Available at http://www.division39.org/pdfs/PPWebOct07.pdf (on 120th May, 2011) 7. Staub, E. (2000). Preventing genocide: Activating bystanders, helping victims and the creation of caring. Other Voices: The (e) Journal of Cultural Criticism, 2(1). Available at from http://www.othervoices.org/2.1/staub/preventing.html (on 120th May, 2011) 8. Staub, E. (2003). The psychology of good and evil: Why children, adults, and groups help and harm others. New York: Cambridge University Press. 9. Pope, K. S., & Gutheil, T. (2008). The American Psychological Association & detainee interrogations: Unanswered questions. Psychiatric Times, 25(8). Available at http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1166964 (on 120th May, 2011) 10. Walser,R.D., Ruzek, J.I.,Naugle A.E.,&Padesky.C.(2004).Disaster  and terrorism:Cognitive –Behavioral interventions. Available at http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/Volume_19/issue_1/walser.pdf (on 120th May, 2011) Read More