A victim of the New Lynn stabbing is rushed to medical treatment. Photo / Alex Burton
A victim of the New Lynn stabbing is rushed to medical treatment. Photo / Alex Burton
Work is underway by security services to review potential threats posed by others who may be inspired by the terror attack in Auckland on Friday.
The concern is that the attack has inspired or triggered others to put plans into action, raising the prospect of a sequel to an attackthat saw seven people injured, including at least five stabbed, and their attacker shot to death.
The security services' review would be expected to check resources and warrants for surveillance were aimed in the right place, taking into account any shift in risk brought about by Friday's attack.
It would also see the NZ Security Intelligence Service running a ruler over its "watch list", which it has said include between 30 and 40 people. The number of people on the list was a measure of capacity rather than risk.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the public should not be unduly concerned that the attack raised the level of risk in the community.
"This case is an outlier and we are not looking for anyone else in relation to this event. Cases of this type are highly unusual.
"There are many people with concerning ideologies. Very few of them reach the highest level of concern. Of those, it is this case that caused us the highest level of concern."
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster during the update on the terror attack in West Auckland. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Massey University's Dr Rhys Ball, a former NZSIS officer, said the security agencies would be reviewing information held on individuals to gauge whether the attack would spur them to act.
Ball said interest would be focused on those who were not at the top of the list of usual suspects. In those cases, they would be subject to the greatest focus already.
Instead, the question was whether those who didn't receive such constant or focused attention would rise to a higher threat level as a result of the attack.
Ball said it would be important to consider the level of intent, the degree of capability and the motivation driving those who pose a threat. That would include understanding the psychological mindset of the individual.
"It's based on the individual and how they are wired. Who is going to be next cab off the rank is the $64,000 question.
"In the security business, you're acutely aware of that handful of people you have on your watchlist. They're being pretty thoroughly covered, I would suggest.
"[The New Lynn incident] is an example of how thorough that coverage is and how it can only go so far."
Ball said the New Lynn attack meant New Zealand had now suffered the experience of two different types of "lone wolf" attacker, operating at opposing ends of the spectrum.
The March 15, 2019 attacker in Christchurch was unknown to security agencies, meticulous in his planning and careful to stay below the radar.
The man pictured attacked people in a New Lynn supermarket on Friday before being shot dead by police. Photo / Supplied
By contrast, the New Lynn attacker was someone committed to an ideology yet without the means to carry out a sophisticated attack.
"This is an attacker waiting for an opportune moment to carry out an attack."
Intelligence analyst Dr Paul Buchanan said the New Lynn attacker was different from the March 15 terrorist who took a cold, calculating approach to planning the attack on two mosques and doing so in a way that maximised damage.
The New Lynn attacker was "running hot", said Buchanan. He said he doubted whether the man was "deeply steeped" in the Islamic ideology pushed by Isis.
Rather, he said the man presented as someone whose ideology offered a pathway to lashing out and did so in a disorganised, unstructured way.
"He actually is an exception to the rule. He was very open about his hatred. The people you worry about are the quiet ones. I would worry about the ones who don't exhibit signs of over-radicalisation."
Buchanan said there was a vulnerability in being an open and free society, as New Zealand is, when it comes to "people of bad intent".
