Teach pupils how to survive a terror attack says police chief

CHILDREN must be taught in school what to do in a terror attack just as they used to learn to be wary of strangers, according to a top police chief.

A senior Scotland Yard officer said a Government campaign telling the public how to keep safe in terror incident must be drummed home to pupils.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said the advice to ‘run, hide and tell’ in a Paris-style massacre was as vital as warning children about everyday safety issues such as not going off with adults they do not know.

She said any rampage on a packed building such as a shopping centre or public space was likely to affect a large number of young people.

Ms D’Orsi told the World Counter Terror Congress in London: ‘When I was at school, everybody used to talk about stranger danger and that was the sort of buzz phrase and it’s still a thing I remember today. If we take a lot of our crowded places, and some of the places that you will work in, we know that at keys times they are a hub that attracts a lot of young people to go to those places.’

Alarming posters on what the public should do in the event of a terror outrage were issued by police in November 2014. The campaign shows terrified people running down flights of stairs, cowering in a darkened corner and anxiously talking on their mobile phones.

The message is: ‘If you hear gunfire or a weapons attack, leave the area safely if you can. If this puts you in greater danger, find a safe place to take cover.’

Critics argue the advice is a throwback to nuclear hysteria in the 1980s, but the terrorism threat level has been judged severe in Britain for three years.

‘Key targets attract young people’