The IFPO's Chris Hertig has a book recommendation. Take a look:
Hertig says, "Am reading a book on spree killers. The copycat phenomenon is a major factor in this; a major driver. See this bit below that I got from the ASIS daily news feed.
Mass Shootings Driven By "Media Contagion": Study
From "Mass Shootings Driven By "Media Contagion": Study"
Homeland Security News Wire (08/08/16)
The prevalence of mass shootings has risen in relation to the mass media coverage of them and the proliferation of social media sites that tend to glorify the shooters and downplay the victims, according to a new study by Jennifer B. Johnston and Andrew Joy of Western New Mexico University.
Johnston and Joy concluded that “media contagion” is largely responsible for the increase in these often deadly outbursts.
Elevate your security career -- become IFPO certified!
“Unfortunately, we find that a cross-cutting trait among many profiles of mass shooters is desire for fame,” said Johnston.
This desire for fame among mass shooters has significantly increased since the mid-1990s “in correspondence to the emergence of widespread 24-hour news coverage on cable news programs, and the rise of the internet during the same period.”
Mass shootings and attacks, what can protection officers expect?
She went on to say that "if the mass media and social media enthusiasts make a pact to no longer share, reproduce, or retweet the names, faces, detailed histories, or long-winded statements of killers, we could see a dramatic reduction in mass shootings in one to two years. Even conservatively, if the calculations of contagion modelers are correct, we should see at least a one-third reduction in shootings if the contagion is removed.”
