Distinguishing the Dangers
Paul Clement
October was probably one of the most frightening months in a long time for many Canadians. The terrible acts committed on Canadian soldiers while at peace and the feelings it instilled in us are all still very fresh in our minds. Many of us are left looking for answers. Answers to questions like, why was there not more done to prevent these criminals from walking around unmonitored and unabated?
It is known that these criminals had been flagged as radicalized individuals but the proceeding steps did not seem to be in place and authorities believed that their monitoring practices were sufficient. One of my most recent projects has been to introduce a new psychological and aptitude test to our suite of Background Check products. This product would be used to help determine whether there is any long term risk associated with hiring a new employee. Although its applications are for employment purposes, I believe that a similar sort of test may have been useful in this scenario.
By asking the right sort of questions, we can find dangerous or at risk individuals and use that information to determine what the next steps ought to be from many perspectives. I imagine that a similar test or interview process would go a long way in determining what should be done with the many flagged individuals still living in our country. Maybe if authorities were empowered with more detailed information on a subject’s tendencies or triggers then they could have been further categorized and appropriate measures taken to ensure the safety of the population.
I am able to admit the tragedies from the week of October 20-24th shook my foundations. I contacted my parents to make sure they were safe and I am left worried that our open culture as Canadians will change as a result of these actions. At the end of the day, we will never know what set these individuals off to commit the horrifying crimes that they did but from a security point of view, there is much more we could do including in-depth assessments of flagged people. I expect that our authorities will be working overtime for the foreseeable future implementing new measures to keep us safe. By implementing some new protocols, I am positive that authorities can ensure our protection and get our country back to a point where we can trust to leave our doors open and unlocked.
