Performing counter-terrorism: Police newsmaking and the dramaturgy of security

Abstract

Expansive domains of counter-terrorism policing remain buffered from popular visibility, and police organizations remain primary definers of security threats and the police work involved in controlling these threats. Examining the interface between police image work and the continued intensification of the “war on terror,” this article details how police agencies stage police raids, arrests, and press conferences in efforts to frame terrorism narratives in Canada; a police dramaturgy that shapes how the public consumes news about the threat of Islamic terrorism and the pre-crime interventionism of policing and security agencies. To examine these police newsmaking practices, two approaches are utilized: first by detailing experiences of defence lawyers who have worked on high-profile cases, then through an analysis of declassified documents related to the preparation and roll-out of a high profile national press conference to narrate the interdiction and killing of prospective terrorist Aaron Driver. Contributing to debates on police image work and contemporary debates around police power, this article demonstrates how policing agencies curate the image of counter-terrorism through newsmaking practices that exaggerate the threat of terrorism, shape the public imaginary around the threat of Islam, refurbish the role of police as symbolic guardians against evil, and aim to reproduce securitarian politics that advocate for more pre-emptive and surveillance powers.