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Prevent

Information for Practitioners

Preventing radicalisation

Preventing Radicalisation

Radicalisation is the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies. There are many factors that can make someone susceptible to radicalisation, it can happen to anyone of any age, social class, religion, ethnicity or educational background.

There is no single route to radicalisation. However, there are certain behaviours you can watch out for that is often seen when someone is being led down the path of extremism. These behaviours include:

  • Being influenced or controlled by a group

  • Spending an increasing amount of time online and sharing extreme views on social media

  • Looking to blame others.

  • Expressing extreme ideological views

  • An obsessive or angry desire for change or ‘something to be done’

  • Need for identity, meaning and belonging

  • Mental Health issues

If you have a concern about an individual:

Those who work in frontline support roles will often be the first to notice if someone displays concerning behaviour. We ask practitioners to follow the principles of Notice Check Share if they have a concern about an individual who may be susceptible to becoming involved in terrorism.

NOTICE: 

We want colleagues to firstly notice the concern, this could be through what’s been said, what you may have seen or a change in behaviour.

Ask yourself whether this person might be susceptible to becoming involved in or supporting terrorism.

CHECK: 

Discuss your concerns with a colleague or your Designated Safeguarding Lead, or equivalent, that they agree that it is a cause of concern.

If you are still unsure whether your concerns are relevant to Prevent it is advisable that you make contact with the Police Prevent team (Prevent@norfolk.police.uk) about your concerns, they will be able to provide you with direction and if necessary ask you to make a Prevent referral.

Checking before sharing is a way of making sure you have gathered as much relevant information as possible before passing on the concern.

SHARE: 

Share is the final stage of the notice, check, share procedure. It is an intrinsic part of any frontline practitioner’s job when working with people at risk of radicalisation.

If you have a concern that someone is susceptible to being radicalised into terrorism It is essential to share a concern and make a Prevent referral to the police.

Each person must take responsibility for sharing the information they hold and cannot assume that someone else will pass it on. It’s about making sure that people receive the right services at the right time.

Share information early to reduce risk.

Making a referral into Prevent

If you have followed the key principles of Notice, Check, Share and/or have sought advice from the Suffolk Police Prevent team and wish to make a referral to Prevent please complete the National Prevent Referral Form. (link to form: National Prevent referral form)

All Prevent referrals are reviewed in the first instance by specialist police officers and staff. They will determine whether there is a reasonable cause to suspect whether a person is susceptible to becoming a terrorist or supporting terrorism.

The referral may be considered by the Suffolk Channel Panel. This is a multiagency panel which focusses on providing support an at early stage to protect and safeguard. You can find out more here (What is Channel? | ACT Early)

Training and Resources

The Community Safety Team at Suffolk County Council organise and run a variety of training opportunities which include awareness raising sessions on Preventing Radicalisation and local threats and risks. The training is free for all front-line practitioners living or working in Suffolk. A link to sign up for this training can be found here.

An e-learning awareness training package on Prevent can also be accessed here. This training is available to anyone within Suffolk, once a CPD account has been created search ‘prevent duty’ to access the training. For Suffolk County Council staff this is also available on oracle.

Further resources

Threat Groups and Ideologies

Prevent addresses all forms of terrorism but continues to ensure resources and efforts are allocated on the basis of threat to our national security.   In the UK, the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism. 

Islamist terrorism is the threat or use of violence as a means to establish a strict interpretation of an Islamic society. For some this is a political ideology which visualises, for example, the creation of a global Islamic caliphate based on strict implementation of shari’ah law, drawing on political and religious ideas developed in the 20th century by Sayyid Qutb and Abdallah Azzam. Many advocates believe that violence (or ‘jihad’ as they conceive it) is not only a necessary strategic tool to achieve their aims, but an individual’s religious duty.

Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism describes those involved in Extreme Right-Wing activity who use terrorist violence to further their ideology. These ideologies can be broadly characterised as:  

  •      Cultural Nationalism  

  •      White Nationalism  

  •      White Supremacism  

Individuals and groups may subscribe to ideological trends and ideas from more than one category. Unlike Islamist terrorist groups, Extreme Right-Wing terrorists are not typically organised into formal groups with leadership hierarchies and territorial ambitions, but informal online communities which facilitate international links. 

Prevent also tackles other ideologies and concerns that may pose a terrorist threat. Established terrorist narratives exhibit common themes such as antisemitism, misogyny, anti- establishment, anti-LGBT grievances and religious or ethnic superiority. 

Left-Wing, Anarchist and Single- Issue Terrorism currently represents a significantly smaller terrorist threat to the UK than Islamist terrorism or Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism and is not currently present in the UK at any significant scale. The majority of related activity in the UK has consisted of lawful protest, and where these have involved violence, it has resulted in offences relating to public order.