[Infowarrior] - DHS Partners with NCAA to Promote Suspicious Activity Reporting

[Richard Forno]

DHS Partners with NCAA to Promote Suspicious Activity Reporting

March 20, 2011 in Featured

http://publicintelligence.net/dhs-partners-with-ncaa-to-promote-suspicious-activity-reporting/

Secretary Napolitano Announces “If You See Something, Say Something™” Campaign Partnership with NCAA (dhs.gov):

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today joined National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Mark Emmert to announce a new partnership between the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “If You See Something, Say Something™” public awareness campaign and the NCAA – an effort that will help ensure safety and security during the NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament and all 88 NCAA championship games and tournaments.

“Every citizen plays a critical role in identifying and reporting suspicious activities and threats,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Bringing the ‘If You See Something, Say Something™’ campaign to the NCAA’s championship games and tournaments will play a critical role in ensuring the safety of players, employees, students and fans.”

The “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign – originally implemented by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and now licensed to DHS for a nationwide campaign – is a simple and   effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.

The “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign partnership with the NCAA launched today during the NCAA March Madness men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and will feature both print and video materials – including an “If You See Something, Say Something™” public service announcement featuring Secretary Napolitano and NCAA President Mark Emmert that will play at all tournament games and future NCAA events, which can be viewed here.

Over the past nine months, DHS has worked with its federal, state, local and private sector partners, as well as the Department of Justice, to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative – an administration effort to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to terrorism, crime and other threats; standardize how those observations are documented and analyzed; and expand and enhance the sharing of those reports with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DHS – to communities throughout the country.

Partnerships with the “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign have recently been launched by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National   Football League (NFL), as well as in Colorado, Minnesota and New Jersey, more than 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, Walmart, Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the general aviation industry, and state and local fusion centers across the country. Earlier this week, Secretary Napolitano unveiled the “If You See Something, Say Something™” public awareness video, available here.

In the coming months, DHS will continue to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign nationally to help America’s business, communities and citizens remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping the country safe.