Anti-government extremism, not Islamic terror, is more severe threat according to survey of law enforcement agencies

[Axulus]

Key Findings & Methods:
Law enforcement agencies in the United States consider anti-government violent
extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence
that they face.

They perceive violent extremism to be a much more severe threat nationally than the
threat of violent extremism in their own jurisdictions.

And a large majority of law enforcement agencies rank the threat of all forms of violent
extremism in their own jurisdictions as moderate or lower (3 or less on a 1-5 scale).

These findings emerge from a survey we conducted with the Police Executive Research
Forum in 2014, with funding from the National Institute of Justice. The sampling frame
was all 480 state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies with more than 200
sworn officers, plus 63 additional county and municipal agencies with 200 or fewer
sworn officers in selected jurisdictions that experienced an incident or prosecution for
violent extremism in recent years. The survey yielded responses from 339 of the larger
agencies (a 71 percent response rate) and 43 of the smaller agencies (a 68 percent
response rate), for a total of 382 law enforcement agencies (a 70 percent response rate),
including 35 state agencies, 141 county agencies, and 206 municipal agencies, whose
combined jurisdictions cover 86 percent of the U.S. population.

Of these 382 law enforcement agencies, 74 percent reported anti-government
extremism as one of the top three terrorist threats in their jurisdiction; 39 percent listed
extremism connected with al Qaeda or like-minded terrorist organizations.
Environmental extremism was identified as a top threat by a third of the agencies.

https://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/...ent_of_the_Violent_Extremist_Threat_final.pdf

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American and Canadian litigants, commentators, tax protesters, and financial-scheme promoters. Self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to their particular interpretation of the common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state, or municipal levels;[1] that they do not recognize United States currency; or that they are "free of any legal constraints."[2][3][4] They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate.[5] Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to "federal citizens," who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.[6] The doctrines of the movement are similar to those of the freemen on the land movement more commonly found in Britain and Canada.[7][8][9][10]
Many members of the sovereign citizen movement believe that the United States government is illegitimate.[11] JJ MacNab, who writes for Forbes about anti-government extremism, describes the sovereign citizen movement as consisting of individuals who believe that the county sheriff is the most powerful law-enforcement officer in the country, with authority superior to that of any federal agent, elected official, or local law-enforcement official.[12] This belief comes from the movement's origins in the white extremist group Posse Comitatus.[13]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies some sovereign citizens ("sovereign citizen extremists") as domestic terrorists.[14] In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core sovereign believers", with another 200,000 "just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges."[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement

 

[Axulus]

Has anyone ever seen those compilations of "Sovereign Citizens" encountering the police? Crazy stuff:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCozh_vbYdM[/youtube]

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Yeah I'm sure sovereign citizens are more dangerous.

 

[Deepak]

Has anyone ever seen those compilations of "Sovereign Citizens" encountering the police? Crazy stuff:
\

This one's my favorite sovereign citizen rant. It's quite long, but TimeCube level inanity.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IGxH3IKedM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[whichphilosophy]

https://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/...ent_of_the_Violent_Extremist_Threat_final.pdf

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American and Canadian litigants, commentators, tax protesters, and financial-scheme promoters. Self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to their particular interpretation of the common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state, or municipal levels;[1] that they do not recognize United States currency; or that they are "free of any legal constraints."[2][3][4] They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate.[5] Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to "federal citizens," who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.[6] The doctrines of the movement are similar to those of the freemen on the land movement more commonly found in Britain and Canada.[7][8][9][10]
Many members of the sovereign citizen movement believe that the United States government is illegitimate.[11] JJ MacNab, who writes for Forbes about anti-government extremism, describes the sovereign citizen movement as consisting of individuals who believe that the county sheriff is the most powerful law-enforcement officer in the country, with authority superior to that of any federal agent, elected official, or local law-enforcement official.[12] This belief comes from the movement's origins in the white extremist group Posse Comitatus.[13]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies some sovereign citizens ("sovereign citizen extremists") as domestic terrorists.[14] In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core sovereign believers", with another 200,000 "just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges."[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement

Islamic terrorism by conduct is anti-government extremism.

- - - Updated - - -

https://sites.duke.edu/tcths/files/...ent_of_the_Violent_Extremist_Threat_final.pdf

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose grouping of American and Canadian litigants, commentators, tax protesters, and financial-scheme promoters. Self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to their particular interpretation of the common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state, or municipal levels;[1] that they do not recognize United States currency; or that they are "free of any legal constraints."[2][3][4] They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate.[5] Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to "federal citizens," who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.[6] The doctrines of the movement are similar to those of the freemen on the land movement more commonly found in Britain and Canada.[7][8][9][10]
Many members of the sovereign citizen movement believe that the United States government is illegitimate.[11] JJ MacNab, who writes for Forbes about anti-government extremism, describes the sovereign citizen movement as consisting of individuals who believe that the county sheriff is the most powerful law-enforcement officer in the country, with authority superior to that of any federal agent, elected official, or local law-enforcement official.[12] This belief comes from the movement's origins in the white extremist group Posse Comitatus.[13]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies some sovereign citizens ("sovereign citizen extremists") as domestic terrorists.[14] In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core sovereign believers", with another 200,000 "just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges."[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement

Islamic terrorism by conduct is anti-government extremism.

 

[J842P]

Russian sovereign citizen.

 

[TSwizzle]

Well, duh. Since the BLM crowd cranked up the rhetoric we have increasing violence towards police including several officers executed. Islamic terrorism acts mostly against civilians.

 

[repoman]

You got me in the mood to watch Arlington Road again...

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Yeah I'm sure sovereign citizens are more dangerous.

A sovereign citizen isn't nearly as dangerous as a jihadist. The issue is that we have a lot more of the sovereigns and so the total threat is higher.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Yeah I'm sure sovereign citizens are more dangerous.

Well they do set up armed camps and take over federal buildings.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...andoff-at-bundy-ranch/?utm_term=.0444d8305642

 

[whichphilosophy]

Yeah I'm sure sovereign citizens are more dangerous.

Well they do set up armed camps and take over federal buildings.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...andoff-at-bundy-ranch/?utm_term=.0444d8305642

Is a stand off regarding trespassing on a wildlife reserve and cattle trespassing as serious as ISIS. The charges are conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, assault on a federal officer, interference with interstate commerce by extortion and using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. This sounds more like a few lunatics who are trying to take things in their hands regardless of the law. Perhaps to make it a terrorist attack they would have to take, say 300 cattle into New York and then stampede them during the rush hour.

This somehow reminds me of the film Blazing Saddles where as a result of outlaws "people were stampeded and cattle raped".

 

[ronburgundy]

Well, duh. Since the BLM crowd cranked up the rhetoric we have increasing violence towards police including several officers executed. Islamic terrorism acts mostly against civilians.

The OP study was done in 2014 before BLM was got off the ground. These officers are likely referring mostly to threats from heavily armed and almost entirely white conservative militia types.

One reason local cops would see them as the bigger threat than Islamic terrorists is that they actually personally know of some of these militia types in their own district because they tend not to hide their anti-government radical stance. In contrast, Islamic terrorists stay hidden and only become known after an attack.
So, if a cop is thinking about people they encounter that they think might plausibly engage in violent conflict with them, it would be white militias more than Islamic terrorists. Even if more people are actually killed by Islamic terrorists than white militias, there is more of an in-your-face daily potential threat from the militias that is just never realized.

 

[Derec]

Has anyone ever seen those compilations of "Sovereign Citizens" encountering the police? Crazy stuff:

Or this one for example. Bitch be crazy. The police show a great deal of restraint and seem baffled as to why she is refusing to show id or anything else.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZODTT-r4Gw[/youtube]
She later got shot by police when they tried to serve a warrant on her and her boyfriend. The boyfriend surrendered peacefully and tried to get her to do the same, fearing that any trouble would prompt police to search the premisses, which they did, finding his heroin stash.
Police charge Korryn Gaines' boyfriend with heroin distribution, firearms offenses
He is not the first guy to get in trouble because of a crazy girlfriend.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Has anyone ever seen those compilations of "Sovereign Citizens" encountering the police? Crazy stuff:

Or this one for example. Bitch be crazy. The police show a great deal of restraint and seem baffled as to why she is refusing to show id or anything else.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZODTT-r4Gw[/youtube]
She later got shot by police when they tried to serve a warrant on her and her boyfriend. The boyfriend surrendered peacefully and tried to get her to do the same, fearing that any trouble would prompt police to search the premisses, which they did, finding his heroin stash.
Police charge Korryn Gaines' boyfriend with heroin distribution, firearms offenses
He is not the first guy to get in trouble because of a crazy girlfriend.

I'd like to get one of those"delegation of order" certificates!

 

[Derec]

This is awesome. I am sure these types of cases are boring as hell and the judge in fact relished some entertainment.

"When you see the person David Hall tell him he is not leaving jail either"

 

[repoman]

Judge Hurley is such a cool cat...

 

[Deepak]

This is awesome. I am sure these types of cases are boring as hell and the judge in fact relished some entertainment.

"When you see the person David Hall tell him he is not leaving jail either"