Community Policing, Trust, and Muslim Communities in Relation to “New Terrorism”

Abstract

The following article examines the role of trust between police and communities in the context of “new terrorism,” drawing upon data that examined engagement and partnership work between communities and police within this context. A key finding is that in a low‐trust context, as characterized by “new terrorism,” it is important for police officers to focus initially upon building contingent trust by trust‐building activities that demonstrate trustworthiness. Partnerships between police and members of Muslim communities carrying out sensitive intervention work with those deemed at risk from committing acts of terrorism appear to feature implicit trust. These partnerships are less focused upon short‐term outcomes, but rather, individuals are committed to these relationships so that within the partnerships themselves trust is implicit between officers and Muslim community members. This suggests that police within specialist counter‐terrorism units underpinned specifically by principles of community policing are best placed to provide the kind of long‐term interaction and trust‐building that is required for sensitive partnership work to take place, for contingent trust to be built into implicit trust. Basándonos en datos que examinan el compromiso y el trabajo conjunto dentro del contexto del “nuevo terrorismo” este artículo examina el rol de la confianza entre los oficiales de policía y las comunidades musulmanas. Un hallazgo clave es que en un contexto de baja confianza, característico del “nuevo terrorismo,” es importante para los oficiales de policía enfocarse inicialmente en la construcción de una confianza contingente por medio de actividades que construyan y demuestren dicha confianza. La colaboración entre la policía y los miembros de las comunidades Musulmanas que realizan un delicado trabajo deintervención con aquellos que están en riesgo de cometer actos de terrorismo parecería mostrar una confianza implícita. Estas colaboraciones están menos enfocadas en resultados de corto plazo, en lugar de ello los individuos están comprometidos en estas relaciones para que la confianza entre los oficiales y los miembros de la comunidad Musulmana llegue a estar implicada. Esto sugiere que los oficiales de policía asignados a unidades anti‐terroristas ancladas específicamente en principios de colaboración ciudadana están mejor ubicados para proveer el tipo de interacción de largo plazo y de construcción de confianza que es requerido para llevar a cabo un trabajo de colaborativo delicado, para que la confianza contingente sea incorporada en la confianza implícita.

Britishness and Muslim-ness: differentiation, demarcation and discrimination in political discourse

“…Irrespective of whether one focuses on Lamont's attack on multiculturalism or the home-grown bomber discourses, this criticism underpins the idea that Muslims-and Islam-are not only seen as being different and separate but, importantly, deliberately so. Similar too are counterterror discourses which, in spite of ongoing assurances by political actors from all the main British political parties to the contrary, it is popularly conceived target Muslims only (Kundnani, 2007;Khan, 2009;Spalek & Lambert, 2008;Spalek, 2010). Indeed, Muslims also believe this.…”

Community Policing within a Counter-Terrorism Context

“…The importance of a focus on relationship-building rather than on obtaining community intelligence is stressed in the work of Silk (2009), Spalek et al (2009), Spalek, (2010 and Spalek and McDonald (2011). Relationship-building has to be undertaken within a very challenging context in which individuals are being stopped and searched and questioned, particularly at airports.…”

“…In a counterterrorism context where criminality and the nature of intelligence is much more diffuse and ill-defined than for ordinary crime, this can be deeply problematic. This emphasis on intelligence is very concerning, given the apparent level of mistrust and the lack of confidence regarding counter-terrorism policing within Muslim communities (Spalek, 2010). The work by Lambert, Spalek, Ramirez, Hanniman and Silk stresses 'soft engagement' , and the use of 'soft' policing skills in relation to dialogue, relationship-building, trust-building, but also highlights that intelligence should not be the key, or even a focus, for community policing.…”

“…What is so remarkable is that within a post 9/11 context of distrust and fear between police and Muslim communities, the MCU was able to build relationships with members of Muslim communities (Spalek, 2010). Other key researchers within the counter-terrorism policing arena include Spalek, El-Awa and McDonald (2009), Ramirez (2008), Silk (2009) andHanniman (2008).…”

Citizenship, Responsibilisation and Trust in Counter-Terrorism

“…Whilst at an abstract level, citizenship refers to legal, political and social equality (Marshall, 1950), in practice, even within liberal democratic systems, citizenship is differentiated, and there are often significant inequalities between individual citizens and between the wider group collectivities that they belong to (Spalek, 2008). In the context of security, there are many historical and contemporary examples of individual citizens, and the wider communities to which they belong, experiencing differentiated state-led approaches.…”