Author(s):
Max-Hendrik Böttcher & Dietmar Heubrock

Institution:
Universität Bremen

Title:
Surveillance Behaviour of Security Personnel in a Pre-Terror-Attack Scenario

Abstract:
In a field experiment, an eye-tracking system was used to investigate the observation behavior, the efficiency and the influence of experience and training during a surveillance task with #assassins# hidden in public space. It has been shown that training can enhance observation performance. At the same time, however, the results also demonstrate that cognitive patterns about the age, gender and ethnic origin of actual assassins lead to identification obstacles, so that stereotype-incompatible suspects are not recognized in time. Therefore, future training must focus more on those behavioral characteristics that have proven to be suspicious regardless of other characteristics of the person.

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