National Counter Terrorism Awareness Week
From Monday 24th November a national counter terrorism awareness week is being launched to encourage people to be vigilant and tell them about simple measures they can take to make it harder for terrorists to attack the UK.
Following the increase of the international terrorism threat to severe, there is a heightened need to ensure that the UK is in the best position to deter and detect potential terrorist threats. The week will focus on five key areas where action by the police, businesses and the public can prevent terrorism – crowded places, transport hubs, preventing violent extremism, terrorist financing and the tools that terrorists need to operate.
As part of its support for this initiative, the City of London Police will be holding a number of events throughout the week from table-top exercises and community briefings to leafleting and Project Servator deployments.
Commander Wayne Chance said: ”To combat the terrorism threat effectively, law enforcement, businesses, government and the general public need to work together. Since February this year, when we launched Project Servator as business as usual for the City of London Police, we have continued to refine our approach to deterring terrorism and detecting crime as well as positively and proactively engaging with our community. A survey conducted in October shows that our approach is working – the people of London are knowledgeable about the risk from terrorism and willing to work with the police to prevent such attacks.’
National Policing Lead for Counter Terrorism Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley from the Metropolitan Police Service said: ‘The danger posed by violent extremists has evolved. They are no longer a problem solely stemming from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, far away in the minds of the public. Now, they are home grown, in our communities; radicalised by images and messages they read on social media and prepared to kill for their cause. The tragic murder of Lee Rigby last year was a stark warning to us all about how real and local the threat is.’
The week focuses on a number of themes and there is a range of information available for the public to download (See our daily blog for the themes indicated on the dates below). The force is encouraging the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity by calling the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.
Monday 24th November – Crowded Places
Tuesday 25th November – Transport Hubs
Wednesday 26th November – Preventing Violent Extremism
Thursday 27th November – Terrorist Financing
Friday 28th November – Terrorist Tools
Saturday & Sunday 29th and 30th November – Crowded Places