Counter-terrorism
Prevent
Working in communities to stop people from ever becoming terrorists.
Increasing our resistance to attacks, and disrupting terrorist plots, will not alone stop terrorism. We need to prevent people from supporting violent extremism, or becoming terrorists.
Part of our Prevent work is to challenge those who support violence, but we also want to actively promote the shared values (including democracy and the rule of law) on which our society and the cohesion of our communities depend.
Working closely with communities
Through our work, we now know more than ever before about how some British citizens are drawn into terrorism. We are using this information to help divert people from taking that path.
We work directly with local communities to:
- challenge the ideology behind violent extremism, and support mainstream voices
- disrupting those who promote violent extremism
- supporting people who are vulnerable to being recruited by terrorists
- helping communities who could be targeted by terrorist groups
- addressing the issues that fuel extremism
A long-term, wide-ranging effort
Tackling radicalisation is a job not only for police and security services, but also for local government, schools and universities, and of course our communities.
It relies, to a certain extent, on the vast majority of people who reject violent extremism and are determined to challenge it.
We actively promote the shared values (including democracy and the rule of law) on which our society and our communities depend.
We know that strong and empowered communities find it easiest to reject the extremism, and are most likely to help people who might otherwise end up caught in the web of terrorist causes.
So we support communities, organisations and institutions that challenge the messages of those violent extremists who misrepresent the Islamic faith and put lives in danger.
We also work with local residents and groups in vulnerable areas to identify people or groups known for promoting violent extremism.
We want to provide safe places for debate, and we work with local organisations to identify and research the grievances expressed by people drawn to extremism. As often as we can we take action to address those issues.
