Dr Annabel Chan, President of APATAP will officially open Day 1 of the Conference.

In the practice of behavioral threat assessment and management, professionals often face complex and dynamic challenges in addressing and navigating societal politics, organizational pressures, professional standards and ethics, and personal morals. This presentation will discuss and explore some of the key challenge points, and offer perspectives for maintaining ethical equilibrium and professional integrity.

Policing agencies across Australia have reported a concerning rise in sovereign citizen encounters. Characterised by conspiracy beliefs and anti-authority sentiment, sovereign citizens are part of a decentralized movement that rejects local, state, and federal laws, often believing that the government itself is illegitimate. Their interactions with law enforcement frequently involve noncompliance, verbal defiance, and, in some cases, escalation to violence—posing a significant operational and officer safety risk.

This presentation explores whether procedural justice policing can serve as a risk mitigation strategy, reducing the likelihood of sovereign citizen encounters escalating into threats or violence. Utilising over 200 body-worn camera (BWC) videos from the Queensland Police Service (QPS), this research systematically analyses police interactions with sovereign citizens, primarily in road traffic stops. Using a rigorous systematic social observation methodology, this study codes key elements of these interactions, including procedural justice indicators (voice, neutrality, respect, and trust), escalation patterns, and ideological expressions. By identifying behavioral patterns and risk factors, this research assesses whether procedural justice techniques—such as respectful communication and fairness—can de-escalate confrontational encounters and reduce threats to officers.

Findings from this study will inform frontline policing and threat assessment professionals by identifying early warning signs of sovereign citizen ideology, and offering evidence-based strategies to manage these encounters safely. Additionally, this research contributes to theoretical discussions on applying procedural justice policing to interactions with anti-government movements—an emerging challenge for law enforcement. A secondary outcome is the development of a typology of sovereign citizen behaviors, enhancing risk assessment and intervention strategies for policing and security agencies.

Specifically, this presentation will focus on three primary challenges: 1) practical, 2) moral (ethical), and 3) legal. Some practical problems with the use of AI include a hindrance of critical thinking regarding why someone decided to engage in violence, what violence they might choose to engage in the future, and how we might prevent violence from occurring. Output from AI technologies simply tells threat assessors what to think rather than how to think about violence. Ethical problems with the use of AI include the potential for AI to be unfair in some cases, as the algorithm may include consideration of protected statuses (e.g., age, gender, culture, orientation) in risk estimates, possibly even unbeknownst to the operator. Finally, legal problems include the possibility that AI technology may be admissible in court due to the fact that operators can explain how but not why the AI algorithm reaches a final decision, yet defensible decisions require clear reasoning. Because of these challenges, reliance on AI exposes both threat assessment professionals and their clients to potential liability.

Sex offenders usually present with low disclosure during interviews in forensic settings due to shame, fear of discrimination and personal safety, or denial of their offences or deviant sexual interests. In turn, the comprehensiveness and accuracy of forensic psychological risk assessments are undermined. This study used a qualitative research method to understand the experiences of adult male incarcerated sex offenders as they undergo a forensic risk and needs assessment interview conducted by correctional professionals to establish its association with their willingness to cooperate and disclose during the interview. Thematic analysis of data from semi-structured interviews with 20 adult male incarcerated sex offenders established numerous themes related to interviewer characteristics, interview setting and extra-interview factors. Policy and practical implications to enhance interviewer practices to facilitate disclosure by sex offenders will be discussed.

Monash University’s Safer Community Unit responds to and investigates concerning and threatening behaviour that impacts the safety and wellbeing of students, staff and the broader public. In responding to these concerns, a range of traditional assessment measures and processes are used along with a range of digital tools to monitor, investigate and respond to potential threats. As technology advances, the sources of information available to assess these threats continue to grow and the far-reaching access to personal information continues to push the boundaries of what is ethically right for entities to access in the pursuit of safety.

Through a review of multiple case studies that include direct threats to the University, political conflicts such as the encampments seen across multiple Universities last year and immediate welfare concerns, we will highlight the various tools which assist SCU in reviewing potential threats, including CCTV and internet search history reviews, Wireless Access Point monitoring on campuses and more.

In this presentation, we will explore how far the ethical line can be pushed in using information readily available to SCU as threat assessment professionals to maintain the safety of students, staff and the public and further explore the ethical concerns that may arise from the use of these tools.

In this presentation, I will discuss the nature of community and belief formation and transmission in extremist virtual spaces. In addition, I will explore the nuances regarding "trolling" and the use of humour as a means of transmission, as well as the role of memes and shared communication strategies in online extremist communities. Utilizing an original dataset of extremist group manifestos, I will discuss the findings of a reflexive thematic analysis that explores the relationship between language use in online settings and offline violence. Finally, I will discuss the nature of data collection in the virtual space, the challenges, and practical steps for interpreting this data. The presentation will finish with primary takeaways for practitioners and recommendations for practitioners in multiple spaces (such as law enforcement, threat assessors, and psychologists) on applying the knowledge presented to their fields.

The Western Australian Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (WA FTAC) is a joint WA Police/Department of Health unit embedded within the State Security Investigation Group (SSIG), part of WA Police Counter Terrorism and Emergency Response. WA FTAC provides specialist mental health/threat assessment and consultation for individuals who are identified as potentially on a pathway to targeted violence, whether driven by personal grievance, pathological fixation or radicalisation/extremist ideological beliefs, and where conjoint mental health issues are suspected or established. This presentation will provide an overview of the structure and charter of WA FTAC, including a synopsis of current and emerging trends within the broader socio-political context in WA. Three brief case examples will be discussed to demonstrate the operational capabilities of WA FTAC across the three arms of its charter. These will include a fixated individual engaging in threatening communications towards a public office holder, a school-based mass casualty threat, and a young person espousing violent extremist views and suspected of being radicalised online. Each case example will illustrate WA FTAC’s threat assessment and management process from initial identification through to the implementation of risk-mitigation strategies. A central theme across all three cases is the emphasis on inter-agency collaboration in the effective identification and management of risk, which is uniquely afforded by the FTAC model.

This presentation will cover

- The development, structure and charter of the WA FTAC, including an overview of common referral subtypes.

- A brief review of current and emerging trends in the FTAC and security operations/counter-terrorism threat landscape. Broader socio-political issues, such as the enduring impacts of the Covid pandemic and international political events/conflicts (for example the rise of extreme right-wing and anti-Semitic ideologies), and their nexus with FTAC will be discussed.

- Each case example will highlight the operational capabilities of WAFTAC, showcasing how cases progress from the initial reported threat/concern, threat assessment and management planning process, and the implementation of risk mitigation strategies.

- Each case example will particularly illustrate the unique utility of the FTAC model in facilitating cross-agency collaboration in the threat assessment and management process.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) – concepts that seem fundamentally positive in academic discourse – are currently facing considerable political backlash in some locales. This creates a particular challenge for BTAM teams because diversity is an unambiguous necessity in the operation of teams that assess and manage potential threats of violence.

This session opens with an evidence-based review of the essential nature of DEI in behavioral threat assessment, both at the assessment stage and the management stage. That is followed by a summation of the current challenges facing BTAM teams who wish to promote diversity, with specific attention to K-12, university, and government settings in the United States. Finally, the session concludes with practical guidance on implementing and sustaining a DEI-informed approach when: building teams, training teams, conducting assessments, and creating management plans.

• Research and practices supporting DEI in behavioral threat assessment

• Legal, political, and community challenges to implementing DEI

• Priorities and practices for creating diverse BTAM teams

• Training goals for diverse BTAM teams

• How does DEI-informed practice change threat assessment?

• How does DEI-informed practice change threat management?

Through multiple case studies we aim to explore the challenges faced by behavioural threat assessors when they become the target of serious threats when working with high-risk individuals. Although these cases may have been technically ‘closed’ years earlier, the professionals involved—both the clinicians and their team—found themselves at the centre of targeted threats, highlighting the long-lasting risks faced by those in the field of behavioural threat assessment.

These cases offer an experience of the vulnerabilities inherent  in the field of threat assessment, emphasising the importance of proactive safety planning and robust institutional support for professionals exposed to personal threats as a result of their work. They also highlight the complications that arise when an institution fails to adequately respond to the unique risks that impact these teams.

These reflections aim to explore both the psychological and procedural responses required to safeguard the clinician and the team, the impact of the threat on the professional environment, and the changes needed to enhance safety protocols for behavioural threat assessors. In acknowledging ‘what went wrong’ and reflecting on the challenges within these case studies, our goal is to apply the lessons learned to refine and enhance threat assessment practices, ultimately creating a safer and more resilient system.

In conclusion, this collection advocates for a comprehensive, trauma-informed approach to both threat prevention and response, ensuring the safety and well-being of individuals in high-risk threat assessment roles, and promoting a more adaptive and responsive professional environment.

Dr Annabel Chan, President of APATAP will officially close Day 1 of the Conference.