Pictograms to advise on responding to terror attack

The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) plans to publish on its website explanatory pictograms on how to behave in the event of a terrorist attack. The designs are already in use in Zurich schools. 

Eleven pictograms designed for schoolchildren by Zurich city’s Centre for the Prevention of Violence have attracted the attention of police authorities, according to the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Their recommendations can be summarised as “run away, hide and sound the alarm”. 

Leitfaden Terrorismus Schul- und Sportdepartement der Stadt Zürich

FedPol spokeswoman Catherine Maret said that in the event of an attack in Switzerland, the federal and cantonal authorities could post the pictograms on social media channels like Twitter and Facebook, similar to the system in place in Britain. 

She added it would be up to the cantonal police departments to draw up their own guidelines on how to raise awareness of the pictograms. Fedpol will soon publish the pictograms on its website. 

“It’s also possible in future that they are used by companies like the federal railways, and both public and private institutions,” Maret said. 

A few days before the terror attacks that occurred in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Cambrils on August 17, The Swiss Federal Intelligence Agency warned that the risk of terror attacks in the country remains “elevated”. Around 500 people believed to be spreading jihadist propaganda online or using Switzerland as a base for jihadi attacks have been identified.  

Leitfaden Terrorismus Schul- und Sportdepartement der Stadt Zürich

Leitfaden Terrorismus Schul- und Sportdepartement der Stadt Zürich