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“Counter-terrorism
policing Part 4: An inspection of the police’s
contribution to the government’s Prevent programme”
(published today, Monday 9 March 2020) says forces are
‘meeting their obligations under the Prevent duty’, with
inspectors seeing ‘many positive aspects’ in the way they
protect young people and vulnerable adults from extremist
material and radicalisers.
The report also praised the innovation shown by the way
police use hate-crime data and computer systems to better
protect communities against extremists, as well as
recognising that ‘policies and effective processes
designed to protect people from being radicalised were in
place’.
But despite a glowing bill of health for policing’s
support of the Prevent strategy, the report does suggest
that improvements can be made in regards to sharing best
practice and innovation across all force areas, as well
as spotting ‘inconsistencies in how forms, processes and
standards of referrals were used’ - calling for greater
scrutiny from Prevent leads.
The report makes eight recommendations, ranging from
improved training packages for Prevent strategic leads,
to improving police resilience to radicalisation of its
own officers and staff.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Prevent,
Chief Constable Simon Cole, says: “At a time when the
threat to the UK from terrorism remains at record levels,
with rising numbers of investigations and an extremism
crisis fuelled by a largely lawless online space, I am
proud policing is helping to lead the vital fight against
radicalisation.
“Prevent is the only strategy that will succeed in
reducing the terrorism threat in the long-term – and we
must do more to champion its work and improve trust in
our communities.
“As this report highlights, the police service can and
will make improvements to the way we carry out our
Prevent duties, and as the NPCC lead I will ensure every
single one of the recommendations made by the HMICFRS
will be met.
“But this report also recognises the outstanding work
done by police forces and their Prevent officers in
protecting the most vulnerable in our society, and
highlights the passion, innovation and best practice that
we will strive to share across the UK so that we are all
better protected from those who wish to do us harm.”
You can read the full report here.
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