| Citizens trained for vigilance Programs advise groups on how to spot terrorists Houston Chronicle 12/23/02: Lini S. Kadaba Original Link: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1709687 PHILADELPHIA -- The good citizens of Easttown Township, Pa., a tiny Main Line community of rolling hills, elegant stuccos and well-heeled professionals, are on the lookout -- for terrorists. So are residents of various Philadelphia neighborhoods. And town watch patrols in Neshaminy Valley. And the denizens of Mount Holly. Across the region, regular folks -- from professionals to grandmothers -- are being trained by the government to be lookouts in the fight against homeland terrorism. Those behind these training programs say they are taking pains to keep them from degenerating into neighborhood spy teams unduly influenced by presumptions and jingoism. "Our motto is: Watch America with pride, not prejudice," said Michael Licata, who helped develop a widely used community antiterrorism curriculum. Still, critics of these initiatives argue it is very difficult to train people to put aside their biases. "I'm wary of these programs," said Marwan Kreidie, president of the Philadelphia Arab American Association. Kreidie worries people would resort to profiling, even though the curriculums emphasize behavior over appearance. "People are scared in our community," he said. Antiterrorism instruction is a result of citizen confusion over the national call to be more watchful. Town watch groups, known as the "eyes and ears" of the police, have attracted new members since Sept. 11, according to the National Crime Prevention Council. Watch duties have expanded, too, with neighbors out to spot not only vandals and burglars but terrorist cells as well. Terrorism-awareness programs are receiving praise from police, the FBI and town watches. But with vigilance, the trainers acknowledge, sometimes comes overreaction. Do the programs encourage racial and ethnic profiling? Will law enforcement become inundated with tips that prove to be false alarms? How effectively can average citizens, after a one-hour lesson, ferret out terrorists? Some fear that innocuous acts could raise suspicions. Kreidie offered an example: A group of Arab Americans at an area restaurant doodled some pictures on a paper tablecloth, including one of a school bus -- and later faced questions from the FBI. "It's insulting," he said. Instructors are well aware of the sensitive issue. A few weeks ago, Sgt. Charles Marsch of the Easttown Township Police Department spoke on terrorism to 100 people at a Easttown Township Neighborhood Watch program. He used the Community Anti-Terrorism Training Initiative (CAT Eyes), developed by Licata, a retired Air Force officer from New Jersey. A terrorist could be anybody, Marsch said, showing pictures of Timothy McVeigh, white supremacists, Osama bin Laden, and others. And, yes, they could plot attacks from even little Easttown, Pa., with its proximity to major roads and potential targets, such as the King of Prussia shopping mall, Springton Reservoir and Limerick nuclear-power plant. "They'll know who won the World Series," he said. "They'll blend in the best they can." Watch out for strangers taking notes or pictures or asking lots of questions, he said. But he also warned: "Think about what you see. Analyze what you see. Don't jump to a conclusion." FBI agents have sifted through thousands of civilian tips. Some have paid off, said special agent Jeffrey Tomlinson, a supervisor with the Joint Terrorism Task Force whose territory includes eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. One tip from an apartment manager led to a group in violation of immigration laws, he said. Another involved someone videotaping a landmark. "You're not wasting my time," Tomlinson said. Still, some residents have expressed reservations. "I've heard from people in the neighborhood: `What do you want us to do? Rat on people? Spy on people?' " said Elaine Matt, vice president of the Easttown watch's advisory board. For her, the message of the program "is that no matter where you are, you need to keep your eyes open." CAT Eyes also made her focus on behavior -- not just her image of an al-Qaida operative. "What I envisioned was something like the civil defense program of World War II," Licata said. "The effect of hundreds of people keeping their eyes open is better than one police officer. God gives you instincts for a reason. We're trying to fine-tune those instincts." CAT Eyes is used in New Jersey, where Licata works as a ROTC instructor. The program, run through a nonprofit institute, also has trained officers in Ohio, Massachusetts and New York. "We did some soul-searching," said Don Numer, who helped develop the state's Terrorism Awareness and Prevention program. "Are we going to create spies? Are we going to invade people's privacy? If there's no guidance, (citizens are) going to base it on their fears. This at least gets them thinking." ------------------------------------- PRISONPLANET.com |
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