The new forms of terrorist attacks are causing devastating psychological and physical effects among members of the public. Lack of knowledge among the public on these forms of attacks has led to unnecessary fears. Some of the modern forms of terror threats include the use of explosive vests on women, children and young men. These attacks are sometimes dispensed in highly populated areas that include residential areas and city centers (Bullock, 2012). Educating the public will involve showing them how to identify the different forms of threats. Necessity in identification arises because people have been seen to lose their lives out of scares. The scares might be from things resembling any of the modern form of terror threat.
The public should be taught different ways of reacting to different form of attacks. One of the modern forms of attack gaining popularity is throwing of hand held grenades in densely populated areas. Casualties from such attacks are the result of people trying to run without knowing where the blast took place. The manual should educate people that in case of a blast they should first trace the source of the blast. The members of the public should be advised to lie low whenever such an event takes place. People should be discouraged from rushing towards the scene of attack.
The education manual should include what mitigation measures people should take to reduce the damages caused by the terrorist attacks. One of the mitigation measures would be people evacuating from near the place where the terror attack has taken place (Weiten, 2012). Evacuation will reduce chances of terrorists carrying out a second attack within the same area.
Methods of identifying criminals trying to carry out modern forms of terror attacks should be formulated. The public will be taught on how most terrorists behave while carrying grenades and other forms of modern terror weapons. One of the forms of identifying such people would be people purchasing huge quantities of highly explosive chemicals without any form of licensing (Dyson, 2012). The public will be advised on methods of reporting such people to the law enforcer without causing any commotion. Members of public should be given some teaching on handling such people because coming into contact with them might bring about casualties.
Modern terrorists use social media to spread fear and intimidation to members of the public (Weiten, 2012). This form of terrorism makes people live in fear when they receive such information from their television or through their mails. To alienate such fear on people, teaching should be done to show people that some of those messages could be traced back from the source. The public should be advised to forward such messages to government institutions to allow for scrutiny. People who receive such messages should be discouraged from passing them over to their friends. The message when not forwarded eradicates situation where the terrorist are able to instill fear in a large population using a single message.
Presentation of information on modern terrorism will be done over the social media and newspapers. Use of social media will reach the young generation whom a day does not pass without visiting sites like facebook, twitter and 2go. The use of the print media will reach the older generation who subscribe to monthly magazine or purchase newspaper each day (Stephen, H& Marvin, 2003). The public not covered by the two forms of media will be reached through cable and satellite TV which are installed in almost every American home.
References
Bullock, J. (2012). Introduction to homeland security. Boston, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Dyson, W. (2012). Terrorism: an investigator's handbook. Amsterdam: Anderson Pub.
Stephen, H.& Marvin, L. (2003). The media and the war on terrorism. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution Press.
Weiten, W. (2012). Psychology applied to modern life: adjustments in the 21st century. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
