Terrorism has not gone away 9 December 2020

Terrorism has not gone away

DECEMBER 2020

With the Coronavirus pandemic continuing to dramatically affect our lives, the threat posed by terrorism is no longer at the front of people’s minds. This is a huge mistake because the threat of terrorism has obviously not gone away.

• On the morning of 29 October 2020 in Nice, France, two people were killed as part of a stabbing attack.
• On the 2 November 2020 in Vienna, Austria, a lone gunman opened fire with a rifle in the city centre. Four people were killed in the attack and 23 others were seriously injured, including a police officer.

The timing of the attack in Vienna was significant. The shooting took place four hours before a national lockdown. This meant the city centre was busy, as people enjoyed the opportunity to be out before the restrictions came into force.

In response to the events in Nice and Vienna, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), part of MI5, upgraded the UK’s terrorism threat level to “SEVERE”. The increased threat level came as a direct result of the Vienna terrorist attack, and means that the authorities believe an attack is highly likely.

As a member of the UK’s private security industry, we work closely with the police to help keep our staff and customers safe. The heightened security level will see us work with the police even more closely.

We support the Counter Terrorism Policing Winter Vigilance campaign. The aim of campaign is to provide a ‘whole society’ approach where police, security officers, retail staff and the public come together to minimise the opportunity for an attack to take place.