Individuals and organisations across the private and public sectors receive communications and contact from the public on a daily basis as part of their function or who they are.
The majority of such communications concern legitimate enquiry, reasonable complaint, requests for help or, in the talent sector, fan-mail. However, a significant minority will be intrusive, angry, demanding, inappropriate in content, or chaotic and difficult to understand. Occasionally, communications will be received which contain direct or indirect threats.
Most such inappropriate, aggressive or threatening communications are harmless: but some are not. How can risk managers determine which communications require further action, and which can reasonably be ignored? The dangers, should this not be done effectively, are either that warnings of future harm are missed, with potential adverse consequences, or alternatively that costly investigative and security resources are spent on cases where they are not required.
The Communications Threat Assessment Protocol 25 (CTAP-25) is a structured professional judgement tool with demonstrable reliability and validity in identifying and prioritising such communications.[1]
Many threat assessment tools focus on violence risk, and few incorporate more prevalent risks, such as disruption of function, reputational damage, financial loss and distress for the recipient. CTAP-25 is designed to take all these risks into account and help risk managers identify those communications linked to a broader landscape of unwanted potential.
The CTAP comprises two parts: a preliminary Quick Correspondence Screen (QCS), and the main CTAP itself. The QCS is designed to be completed by those most frequently in receipt of day-to-day public or customer communications in an organisation – for instance, executive response teams, PAs, EAs, complaints handling, front of house, or HR. It comprises a simple, intuitive, one-page list of items concerning the content of the communication. If any item on the list is present, the communication should be referred to the security department or risk manager of the organisation for more detailed examination, using the CTAP. If none are present, the communication needs no further action.
The CTAP itself is designed to be used by risk managers, threat assessors or police who have undergone training in its use. It contains 25 items, with clear definitions, each of which is associated with increased risk. These are used to determine the level of priority which the case should be accorded. The CTAP is contained in a 55-paged manual which includes: an introduction, instructions for use, descriptions of the twenty-five CTAP items, instructions for allocation of concern level, framework for initial management plans, and guidelines for cases which do not prove amenable to rapid resolution.
The CTAP-25 Evaluation Sheet is applied to the content of the communication itself, with minimal reference to other sources of information. It can be employed to online as well as offline communications, such as correspondence, calls, or statements uttered by individuals who turn up. CTAP-25 applies equally to communication from anonymous as well as named senders, and can be administered on a single social media post, multiple communications sent over a long period, or a single long missive or manifesto.
Designed to be applied with only a minimal amount of training, CTAP-25 is a process that can overlay the most complex structures and is capable of withstanding the organisational ‘memory loss’ that frequently accompanies employee turnover in key roles.
CTAP-25’s most obvious and immediate value is in avoiding wasted time and resources on communication that should otherwise be considered low priority, focusing these instead on the high priority cases.
The instrument has the added advantages of being a general tool, looking at risk as a whole rather than simply violence; it is designed to have wide applicability to offline and online communication and contact of all types; it incorporates standardised approaches both for recipients of communications and for risk managers, and the CTAP-25 has been evolved over a number of years through practical application, which renders it straightforward and user-friendly.
Its application encourages a more proactive approach to the receipt of potentially problematic communication generally, helping to develop clear policies for managing Communicated Risk, and identifying problems early, so reducing the need for additional and/or unplanned protective security and legal spend, as well as avoiding or minimising the associated disruption and distress that accompany such cases.
Training can be delivered online or at a client site. It will also soon be available as a self-directed eLearning package. If you would like to learn more or discuss training, please contact us, or pre-register for the discounted ‘Early-Bird’ on the eLearning package here.
For more information on CTAP25 or to pre-register for the discounted ‘Early-Bird’ eLearning package, please click here.
