Community forum on radicalization and terrorism

Saint Paul, Minn. (Oct. 24, 2014) — Metropolitan State University’s School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (SLC) and Institute for Community Engagement and Scholarship have partnered with multiple organizations to present “Radicalization and Terrorism: Implications for our Dynamic and Diverse Communities,” the second in a series of four community forums on critical issues in criminal justice and related disciplines to the Metro area.

“Radicalization and Terrorism: Implications for our Dynamic and Diverse Communities,” takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 5, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Room 112 of the Law Enforcement Criminal Justice and Education Center, 9110 Brooklyn Boulevard, Brooklyn Park.

The forum addresses how local law enforcement and community organizations are responding to recruitment efforts of terrorist organizations in Minnesota and how recruitment affects the lives of individuals and families.

Metropolitan State Interim President Devinder Malhotra introduces the forum, which features the following distinguished panelists:

• Kyle Loven, supervisory special agent, FBI Minneapolis

• Jon Olson, retired U.S. Navy commander

• Ilhan Omar, senior policy aide to Minneapolis City Council member Andrew Johnson

• Imam Hassan Mohamud, Minnesota’s Da’way Institute

• Dr. Hal Pickett, client services director, Headway Emotional Health Services

In a recent article for CNN, James Densley, SLC assistant professor, asserts, Terror intervention, like gang intervention, needs an emphasis not on the traditional “hot spots” for radicalization, but rather the “hot people” most deeply embedded in extremist networks. This is important. The old “hot spot” approach to gang suppression alienated communities of color by reinforcing the “us versus them” mentality that forced many people into gangs in the first place.

The forum explores some of these ideas in detail.

The community forums are co-sponsored by Hennepin County Technical College School of Law Enforcement, Metropolitan State Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Student Club, FBI Minneapolis Citizens Academy Alumni Association and the American Democracy Project.

The series was successfully launched on Sept. 24 with a community forum that drew an estimated 80 students, faculty, staff and community members and addressed the events in Ferguson, Mo., in the wake of the fatal shooting by police of unarmed civilian Michael Brown.

The Ferguson forum’s robust, multidimensional exchange resulted in a policy brief that includes actionable items for changes in police departments, law enforcement training and cultural conditioning. A broad range of resources related to the Ferguson events has been compiled by Metropolitan State’s Library and Learning Center.

For more information, contact SLC Assistant Professors Raj Sethuraju at [email protected] and 763-657-3750, or Jill Peterson at [email protected] and 763-657-3757.

Metropolitan State University, a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, is America’s premier university for lifelong learning, providing unsurpassed, competitive academic and professional degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels while maintaining affordability.