Broome & Other Counties to Develop Domestic Terrorism Prevention Plans

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is instructing local governments, including counties like Broome, to have plans in place for preventing domestic terrorism.

In a news release from the Democrat’s office, counties are being encouraged to develop Threat Assessment and Management Teams as part of their Domestic Terrorism Prevention Plans with $10-million in state money available to assist them.

Hochul recently attended a two-day Threat Assessment and Management Summit hosted by the State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and its Office of Counter Terrorism at the State Emergency Preparedness Center in Oriskany.  She discussed the importance of Domestic Terrorism Prevention plans in the wake of “the horrific terror attack” in Buffalo, Hochul’s hometown.

As part of the local prevention plans, county governments are called on to create and plan the operation of threat assessment management teams that will be made up of law enforcement, mental health professionals, school officials and others given the task of identifying, assessing and mitigating threats of targeted violence in a community.

Executive Order 18 in part calls on the Division of Homeland Security to establish a new unit in its Office of Counter Terrorism dedicated to the prevention of domestic terrorism, directs every county and the City of New York to develop and maintain a plan to address the threat of domestic terrorism, including racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and orders the New York State Police to establish a new unit in the State Intelligence Center dedicated to tracking domestic violent extremism and increase social media monitoring for items promoting violent extremism.

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The attack on a Buffalo supermarket in May in which a white Conklin teen is accused of driving hours from Broome County in order to kill Black people reportedly was foreshadowed by postings on social media and previous actions by the defendant during his senior year in high school.