Detecting Radicalisation in Communities: The Role of Multi-Agency Partnership and the Power of Local Information

Abstract

Following the 2017 UK terrorist attacks by extremist religious individuals, it is notable that politicians and individual commentators remarked on the pressing need for local partnership working in England (BBC question time, 5 June 2017; Faith Matters 2017; Brendan Cox 19 June 2017). For it is by this means, people working together in a community, that local information and intelligence can be accessed, especially relating to emerging radicalisation. The early warning signs that could lead to active terrorism of the kind witnessed in the 2017 attacks (UNISON 2016) are being missed, and there are reasons why. This paper looks at why local information and multi-agency partnership are important to policing and community safety in the context of concerns about radicalisation and extremism, reviewing the policy changes, and their effects in partnership arrangements that have occurred in the UK since 2010. The paper goes on to present findings about the crucial significance of local partnership working in detecting radicalisation and some of the challenges faced by professionals now. The third part of the paper considers the question of how relevant agencies can monitor ongoing extremism and terrorism in communities through local intelligence gleaned through partnership working and other means.

The London killings of 2018: the story behind the numbers and some proposed solutions

“…These concerns have been echoed in the LGiU report (LGiU 2018). Cuts to public spending were and are part of the overall Coalition, then Conservative strategy of Austerity following the financial crash of 2008 (Roberts 2018). The Local Government Association highlighted their concerns in 2014 where they warned that statutory services could not be maintained in the face of large scale cuts to public services (LGA 2014).…”