As more than 100 people lay dead and hundreds more seriously injured, the entire world is analyzing the horrific terrorist attacks that occurred this past week in Paris, France.
The most predominant questions asked of me during the numerous Bell Media/CTV interviews that followed, were: “Did the intelligence community fail the people of Paris?” and “Were security forces not on high-alert after the Charlie Hebdo attack?” Both were legitimate queries and understandably difficult for the general public to reconcile. In addition, I heard many people publicly express their anxiety that security forces didn’t enter the Paris concert venue sooner in an attempt to save lives there. Again, a valid concern.
The international intelligence community is united and totally committed to gathering, analyzing and disseminating information on threats to public security. As they deal with intelligence gleaned, evaluate the activities of suspects that have appeared on their radar and assess the associated threat levels, undoubtedly some individuals rise higher on the radar than others. They only have so many resources to monitor suspects with and they apply those resources on a priority basis. Despite all of their dedication and best efforts, some threats will slip through the cracks. That is the unfortunate reality of the world in which we exist.
Comparatively, on a more basic scale, regardless of all of the educational, visibility and enforcement efforts of uniformed police officers across North America, thousands of people die in preventable motor vehicle crashes every year. Police agencies cannot be everywhere, 24/7, arm-in-arm, preventing all injury and death in that example either. I wish they could and so do they, but that is not realistic.
Having said that, no death – through murder or negligence, is something that any of us find acceptable. The brutal murder of hundreds of innocent people in Paris is obviously no exception. It was horrific, indescribable and completely heart-wrenching for us all.
Canada’s RCMP and Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) were unfairly criticized when terrorism struck within our borders in October of 2014, taking the lives of 2 Canadian Forces members. One of those that perpetrated one of the deadly acts was on the radar of our federal security services, but there was not sufficient evidence of a threat to public safety to detain him. The other, unemployed and homeless, had not yet appeared as a legitimate threat. Is that the fault of the RCMP or CSIS? They have thwarted a number of terrorist plots over recent years and will always try their best, but they cannot know all and be everywhere, to prevent all tragedy from occurring.
As the hostage-taking in the Bataclan concert hall unfolded, security forces amassed to contain the building and quickly develop plans for an immediate assault on the building to save the lives of the innocent people being murdered therein. This takes time and significant resources, and occurred as numerous shootings and explosions were being simultaneously addressed at several disparate locations in Paris. No one police agency has the resources to tackle all of that death, destruction and ongoing threat – concurrently. They did their best, risked their own lives to do what they could, but sadly the terrorists detonated explosive devices and killed many people as the security forces assaulted the building.
Sadly, such events will occur again – somewhere in the western world. However, please know that intelligence agencies and police forces will continue to do their best to predict and prevent such atrocities and when they do occur, they will respond and put everything on the line to protect every innocent life they can.
In the meantime, “If you see something, say something”. Police can’t operate in a vacuum and must rely heavily on the friends, family, co-workers and classmates of those that may intend on committing violent acts against society. Reporting suspicions about a friend or loved one to authorities is not easy to do, but in addition to saving innocent lives, they may well be saving the life of someone they care about.
Just last week, a 9 year old York Region boy bravely called police to report that his mother was driving while intoxicated. I’m sure that was difficult for him to do, but he may have saved her life and the lives of others through his actions. Hopefully his courageous deed taught us all a valuable lesson.
Chris Lewis served as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police from 2010 until he retired in 2014. He can be seen regularly on CTV and CP24 giving his opinion as a public safety analyst.
