Utah Department of Public Safety

Orlando Terror Attack Reminds Us to Be Vigilant

In the wake of the tragic terror attack in Orlando, Florida, the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) reminds everyone to be vigilant and report suspicious activity to your local law enforcement agency.

Early Sunday morning DPS’ Statewide Information and Analysis Center (SIAC), in coordination with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other local state law enforcement agencies around the country checked Utah databases and shared information to assess all potential threats.

Each state’s governor’s homeland security advisor and lead law enforcement officials coordinate information between federal, state and local law enforcement partners through their state fusion centers. This activity intensifies whenever a potential terrorist event takes place. Our DPS SIAC is Utah’s law enforcement intelligence fusion center. It entered a heightened level of operation for coordinating with FBI, DHS, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies when the Orlando attack occurred. 

The level of day-to-day communication and coordination between federal state and local law enforcement agencies using these fusion centers has increased immensely in recent years. A chief criticism of the 911 Report was that various agencies were not sharing information effectively. These state and regional intelligence fusion centers have greatly increased our potential for identifying terrorist plots in advance, connecting the dots and preventing attacks. 

“It is critical in this day and age that we all do our part to be alert and feel comfortable in sharing information on suspicious activity with law enforcement agencies,” said Keith Squires, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. “The saying, ‘if you see something, say something’ is critically important to this unified effort in protecting our safety and security.” It continues to be shown in these tragic attacks that there is real potential to detect and possibly prevent terrorism and other criminal attacks if individuals will report suspicious activity.

Our video titled ‘The 8 Signs of Terrorism’ and its associated training provides excellent insight on identifying possible terrorist activity and how to report it to the SIAC through their local law enforcement agencies.