Volume 14
Issue 3 

The CRJ team has been travelling far and wide these past few months, attending events and helping with conference input, always listening and learning. Because this is the best way to find out the trends to watch, what is keeping people awake at night and what our readers need to know.

And what we have learnt is all reflected in our content – this edition covers natural hazards, governance, extremism, community and public issues, human factors and leadership, corporate resilience, technology and kidnap, extortion and ransom.

Our cover might raise a few eyebrows (we hope that it does!) and we tussled with the concept. How best to conceptualise in a visual way the multiple facets of organised crime, extortion, kidnap and ransom – from cyber extortion to blackmail using witchcraft or hostage taking?

All these subjects are covered from p68 onwards, as well as views on the multi-layered aspects of negotiation and investigation.

Ultimately, as outlined on p76, such crimes are human in their nature. They are committed by humans against humans and are responded to by humans. Thus, human understanding is vital to safe resolution and this applies equally to other risks.

As with all crises, prevention and preparedness are by far the best option. So why do we so often fail to understand and appreciate the scale of some hazards and threats? Turn to p58 to learn more about psychological predispositions that affect how we perceive and respond to security risks. We must overcome our biases.

This issue also features interviews with genuinely inspirational experts; and we have more up our collective (and rather voluminous) editorial sleeves. On p12 read Alice Hill’s views on climate, security, communities and business. Page 18 discusses how we should put humanity’s progress into perspective. And on p36, I talk to Nicolas Hénin, whose ten months in captivity in Syria qualify him to provide a unique first-hand insight into the issue of foreign fighters.

Whether discussing environmental impacts on society or businesses, duty of care, or helping staff who have experienced trauma, extortion or kidnap, supply chain resilience, reputation management or leadership – the foundations are the same.

Human factors, our inbuilt biases and the interconnected systems that we have created, mean that humans are not only the problem, they are the solution.

Humans created our multifaceted world, and only we can solve the problems