Intervention is key to fighting terror: RCMP

Terrorist attacks have become fast-moving and harder to anticipate, underscoring the need to prevent Canadians from falling into violent extremism in the first place, the RCMP’s top counterterrorism officer said Tuesday.

While terrorist plots used to evolve over months of recruiting and planning, giving police opportunities to detect them and make arrests, recent attacks have unfolded quickly and made use of vehicles, knives and guns as weapons.

“If you’re looking at trying to prevent somebody from jumping in their car and running somebody over, well there’s not much you can do there,” said Assistant Commissioner James Malizia, who oversees national security criminal investigations.

The key is to step in before someone becomes that radicalized: “There may be an opportunity to actually intervene to try and disengage that individual from heading down the path of violence,” Malizia said in an interview.

Families and friends are often aware that someone is radicalizing but are reluctant to come forward, he said.

“They know that something’s up. They might not know exactly what’s going on, but certainly they’re starting to see indicators and changes in behaviour. If we could get in then — and I say ‘we’ because it’s not necessarily a police issue. It’s a social issue where families, social networks, need to get involved,” he said. “It’s just about getting early identification so we can see if there’s an opportunity there.”

On Tuesday, a Toronto woman appeared in court accused of an attack at a Canadian Tire store in the city’s east end. Police said Rehab Dughmosh walked into the store’s paint section and started swinging a golf club. The 32-year-old, who had allegedly expressed support for ISIL, produced a knife from under her clothes. Employees and customers restrained her and pried the knife from her hands, police said. One of the employees was injured.

The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team is investigating whether terrorism charges are warranted.

In the interview with the Post, Malizia outlined what he said the RCMP was doing to lessen the chances that Canada will see attacks like those that have cost lives in Britain. He said a national security joint operations centre that includes CSIS, Canada Border Services Agency, Global Affairs Canada and other agencies was created after the number of foreign fighters “increased significantly.”

The centre gathers information on extremists leaving, arriving and transiting through Canada. “Within minutes we start getting a picture of who this person is, whether they have a Canadian passport … what’s the travel history.”

Another concern is that extremists prevented from travelling to places like Syria could instead strike in Canada. “There’s no doubt about it, you will have individuals that are determined, and if they can’t travel, will maybe look to do something domestically,” Malizia said.

RCMP intervention teams now work side-by-side with national security investigators so that when lower-level extremists are identified, police can take steps to steer them away from violence, the assistant commissioner said.

“As we’re investigating, we’re identifying people that are already radicalized to violence, people that may be on the fringes and others that could be influential in radicalizing either youth or other people,” he said.

While hardcore extremists may be beyond redemption, “there are others on the fringes, they may be younger, it may be still early in the radicalization process where they’ve not radicalized to violence,” he said.

“As Canadians we need to ensure that this threat, although a threat that’s real, it doesn’t keep us from living our day-to-day lives,” Malizia said. “We are working extremely hard obviously with our domestic and our international partners and allies to ensure that Canada remains a safe place and really at the end of the day it’s about remaining vigilant.”