This proposal, which aims to inform the design and implementation of community-centered reporting mechanisms for intimate bystanders in the context of potential terrorism and targeted violence, builds…

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), through its Office of Research Administration, was awarded a $1,061,328 federal Project Grant by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate under CFDA 97.108 Homeland Security, Research, Testing, Evaluation, and Demonstration of Technologies. This grant funds a 2-year research project to investigate features of community-centered reporting programs across 7 countries in order to address the gap between research and practice in supporting early detection and intervention for potential terrorism and targeted violence.

The key products to be delivered through this grant include: 1) an applied thematic analysis synthesizing existing empirical evidence on intimate bystander community reporting across 4 prior studies, 2) a series of 7 national case studies examining how such reporting programs are conceptualized, implemented, and engaged with by citizens and practitioners in different contexts, and 3) consultations with North American policy stakeholders to understand how the conclusions may be adapted to the cultural and structural policy contexts in the US and Canada. The goal is to generate scientific knowledge that can assist in the design and implementation of intimate bystander community reporting systems in diverse national and local settings, with a particular focus on the USA and Canada.

This proposal, which aims to inform the design and implementation of community-centered reporting mechanisms for intimate bystanders in the context of potential terrorism and targeted violence, builds on four previous research studies on intimate bystander reporting thresholds and preferences in australia, the united kingdom, the USA, and canada. We propose to investigate features of community reporting programs across a range of national settings in order to address the know-do GAP in the implementation of programs that can effectively support early detection of and intervention for individuals planning terrorism and targeted violence. By bridging the GAP between research and practice, this proposal is responsive to priority 2, research on the implementation of evidence-based and best practices in terrorism prevention and intervention research. The specific aims of the proposed research are: aim 1: conduct an applied thematic analysis of the completed studies on intimate bystander community reporting in australia, the UK, the USA, and canada (N 4) so as to synthesize the existing empirical evidence on intimate bystander community reporting and to generate an analytical framework for aim 2.aim 2: conduct and analyze a purposive series of national case studies on existing intimate bystander community reporting programs in seven countries - australia, the UK, canada, sweden, the netherlands, denmark and the USA (N 7) - using the analytical framework generated in aim 1 to understand salient commonalities and differences in how community reporting by intimate bystanders is conceptualized, implemented and engaged with by citizens and practitioners in different national contexts, and to consider how existing programs relate to the empirical evidence synthesized in aim 1.aim 3: conduct consultations with north american policy stakeholders in year 1 to understand how the conclusions from aim 2 may be adaptable to the cultural and structural policy contexts in the united states and canada, and the modifications that may be required to do so. This initial consultation will closely inform our transition plan, which will see the development, production, and dissemination of policy - and practice-ready scientific knowledge on intimate bystander reporting programs. The knowledge generated by the proposed research will assist in the design and implementation of intimate bystander community reporting systems in diverse national and local contexts, with a particular focus on the U.S.A. And canada, and will augment a circular economy of knowledge building, integration, and sharing across the five eyes countries on intimate bystander reporting.