Not enough has been done to teach the public how to escape terror attacks in crowded places, says the group set up to create guidance after the March 15 massacre, five years ago.
The “escape, hide, tell” mantra for terror incidents should be as well-known and rehearsed as “drop, cover, hold” for earthquakes, Crowded Places Security Advisory Group chairman Chris Kumeroa says.
“The threat of armed terrorist, criminal, or fixated-person attack hasn’t disappeared. We’re no less likely to experience an attack now than we were in 2019.”
The Crowded Places Security Advisory Group evolved from the response to March 15, bringing private sector security expertise to help develop the Government’s “New Zealand’s Crowded Places Strategy”.
The group has stepped forward on the anniversary of the 2019 Christchurch attacks to urge the Government to make the strategy more visible, to hardwire Kiwis’ responses to save lives.
Kumeroa said society was fraught with tension, made worse by false and misleading information, more polarised communities and growing distrust in traditional government and political structures, increasing gaps between rich and poor, and international conflicts.
He said the 2023 National Security Public Survey showed 68 per cent of people surveyed believed there was a “real threat” of terrorism or an act of violent extremism in New Zealand in the next 12 months. The national terrorism threat level setting of “low” still meant a terror attack was “a realistic possibility”.
Kumeroa - a Defence Force veteran and former NZSAS trooper - said terrorism and violent extremism remained “persistent threats” throughout the world.
Places where people clustered - places of worship, shopping malls, street parades, concerts - were “particularly vulnerable”.
These ‘crowded places’ are attractive to attackers, whether they’re fuelled by extremist ideology or by something else, such as grievance, drug or health issues.
The fifth anniversary of the attacks had seen no significant changes to the vulnerability of New Zealanders in crowded spaces, Kumeroa said.
At the same time, the Government “remains reluctant to promote a public-facing strategy that engages with and informs the public on how to identify a potential attack, protect venues from attack, and stay safe during an attack”.
The reluctance was in contrast to “excellent” work carried out after the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the March 15 attack. Among that work, he listed the “Protecting our Crowded Places from Attack” strategy and the NZ Security Intelligence Service’s guide to identifying signs of violent extremism.
“Unfortunately, they’re largely gathering dust on agency websites.”
Kumeroa said the five years since the attack should have seen the “escape, hide, tell” drill for attacks be as rehearsed or known as “drop, cover, hold” for earthquakes.
Instead, he pointed to criticisms in the Royal Commission’s report in which it said the low-key release of the “Countering terrorism and violent extremism national strategy” in February 2020 “meant that it attracted little public attention and it has not been promoted as an opportunity to stimulate debate”.
Kumeroa said the strategy was “whispered into the public domain” by a police media release and references on government websites.
There was “no high-profile launch, no Cabinet minister front person, no media campaign, no noticeable public service advertising, no public discussion beyond invited expert and stakeholder groups”.
“In short, [there is] no apparent political will to get New Zealanders talking about how to protect themselves against an attack.”
By contrast, he said the Australian policy was launched with public fanfare and a press conference fronted by the Prime Minster.
Kumeroa said the lack of public drive was out of step with the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attacks.
It found there would have been a greater chance of the Christchurch attacker’s plans being uncovered if there were an “agnostic public-facing counter-terrorism strategy” that included a “see something, say something” policy.
It also said a counter-terrorism strategy accessible to the public with steps to reduce risk across crowded places could have reduced the number of those killed.
Kumeroa said part of that wider strategy was the “Crowded Places Strategy” which had techniques and tools for those operating places where people clustered in numbers.
The lack of profile for the wider strategy meant that work to reduce risk in crowded places remained unknown, he said.
“To be fair, Government ministers would have understandably been loath to promote the strategy when it was published in September 2020.
“Covid-19 lockdowns meant that previously crowded places were empty – and financially hurting, and there was a national election around the corner.”
But now, he said, “lockdowns are behind us [and] crowded places are crowded again”.
As group chairman, Kumeroa was calling for the Government to give the crowded places strategy “the hard launch that New Zealanders need it to have”.
He said other incidents which could have benefited from the strategy included the 2021 attack at LynnMall, which left eight people injured and a plan by a radicalised teenager to carry out attacks across Auckland. Before the 2019 attack in Christchurch, police also stopped a heavily armed teenager from attacking fellow students and teachers.
“The threat of armed attack is an uncomfortable topic on many levels, but that’s no reason to shy away from it. The greatest threat to security is thinking there is no threat at all.”
A spokesman for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the agency coordinating the Government’s response to the March 15 attack, said there were no specific recommendations relating to “crowded places” in the Royal Commission’s report so it was not part of the “all of government” response. However, it said police were carrying on the work with DPMC’s support as part of broad counter-terrorism efforts.
The three-word guidance is to help people remember three steps they could take in the event of a terrorist or violent extremist event that would increase their chance of survival.
Escape: If you have a safe exit route, take it immediately. Be quick and quiet as you move away from danger. Take your mobile phone if you can but don’t go back to get it. Leave everything else behind. Encourage others to leave with you but don’t wait if they hesitate.
Hide: If you can’t escape, stay out of sight and turn your phone to silent. If you can, keep the place in which you are hiding secure. That means locking doors and windows and barricading entry points if possible. Stay away from doors, be quiet and still as possible to keep your hiding place secret.
Tell: When it is safe, call police on 111. Tell police where you are, what your surroundings are like, where the attacker or attackers might be and what has happened. They may want you to stay on the line to keep providing information.
Keep safety in mind: First aid on others may save their lives but only help others if it doesn’t put you or others at risk. Keep others from entering the area but only if it doesn’t put you in danger. Don’t move closer to see what is happening. And, as a last resort, look for a means to defend yourself if found by the attacker.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
