Philly FBI Agents Teach Community Leaders How To Spot Radicalized Youth
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia FBI agents held a training seminar on Monday for educators and community leaders to explain how to identify teens and young adults who may be susceptible to becoming radicalized.
In a room full of teachers, clergy and youth group leaders, FBI agents shared tactics for how they may be able to tell if a person is becoming radicalized.
"What you are looking for is changes in behavior," said Michael Harpster, Special Agent in Charge for the Philadelphia Field Division. "All of the sudden, someone will be happy one day, and then two weeks from now they totally change their attitude."
Harpster says there is a "type" that groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda seek to recruit: young, vulnerable and loner types who want to be a part of something bigger.
"The problem is when those beliefs lead to violence," he said.
Harpster says the community is the number one tool to combat the growing problem.
"We can do something called 'off-ramping,' where we can talk to these people and really kind of bring them back from the radicalization that they are getting overseas," he said.
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