By William Tucker
The New York City Police Department has stepped up security outside the office building of the television network Comedy Central after receiving threats over a South Park Episode depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. Death threats are a common occurrence for many television networks and all other forms of media that provide content that some groups may deem offensive. In November 2004, Theo van Gogh was murdered for his portrayal of women in the Islamic faith in the short film Submission. Furthermore, in 2005 a Dutch newspaper printed several cartoons criticizing Muhammad that led to massive riots throughout the Middle East resulting in the deaths of over 100 people and destruction of Dutch embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Some media outlets have become so concerned over the prospect of violence that they have refrained from printing materials that could be controversial.
The desire to exercise free speech by criticizing Islam has created a crisis for police and security professionals throughout the Western world. In the case of Comedy Central the duration of the police protection detail assigned to the building is unknown meaning that valuable resources must be redirected and should a crisis occur the NYPD could be forced to remove the detail prematurely. New York City, unlike many cities worldwide, has a robust intelligence arm that can help determine the length and severity of a threat. On the other hand other police departments do have this capability and could easily become overburdened. The recent case of Jihad Jane shows that radical Muslims are still looking to attack the artists of the original Muhammad cartoons five years after the first printing.
Police departments and security professionals are also struggling to cope with shrinking budgets in a down economy making special details all the more taxing. This could force managers to assign staff members that are not well trained in essential elements of a protective detail such as employing protective intelligence or behavioral analysis making the possibility of an incident occurring go up. Fortunately, training can be inexpensive and is available from professional organizations such as ASIS or even from the Department of Homeland Security. Police and Security professionals can also take the added step of educating those under their protection in recognizing threats and practicing operational security. The desire to exercise free speech will not go away and neither will the threats that result from provocative behavior making frequent training all the more vital regardless of economic wellbeing.
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