The Defuse Podcast – Behavioural Threat Assessment – a political and commercial insight with Bill Zimmerman

Bill Zimmerman has spent over 35 years analysing and managing threats. He started out in the fledgling Threat Assessment team of the US Capital Police shortly after its creation and, having spent over 20 years there, moved into the private sector on his retirement from law enforcement, where he continues to be a leader in the field of Behavioural Threat Assessment. Despite his long career, Bill is one of the humblest men you will have the pleasure of meeting. He is a fountain of knowledge and expertise, and in this podcast, he shares some of that wisdom.

Key Points:

• Behavioural threat assessment has evolved to focus more on identifying concerning behaviours early on rather than just reacting to direct threats. This allows for more options to address issues.
• Practical threat assessment requires communication and information sharing between different protective teams and agencies that may deal with the same individuals.
• The rise of social media has made it easier for people with extreme views to find communities that validate those views, which can encourage more dangerous behaviours in some cases.
• Workplace violence and threat assessment are recognised concepts in the US, but there is no agreed terminology for these issues in the UK and Europe yet. This hinders the recognition of toxic behaviours like bullying as serious problems.

Bio:

Bill Zimmerman was assigned to the Threat Assessment Section (TAS) of the U.S. Capitol Police. The mandate of this section is to investigate threats against Members of the U.S. Congress, their families and other statutory protectees. As a TAS Investigator for over 25 years, he conducted thousands of investigations into individuals concerned with the Congressional community. He collaborated with other Government agencies, local law enforcement, private security, and members of the private sector, who were integral parts of the investigations.

As the senior investigator, his responsibilities included traveling regularly to conduct security awareness seminars for the Senate and House staff throughout the United States and protective intelligence teams for congressional leadership and other congressional events. He helped create and develop guidelines for investigations with input into procedures currently used by the TAS and other Agencies throughout the United States and Great Britain. His experience was solicited for input into developing numerous publications on threat research and risk assessment.

Today, he incorporates that knowledge and experience to help conduct violent risk assessments and assist in creating threat assessment and threat management teams.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-zimmerman/