Police across the North West and beyond have today launched the second national Counter Terrorism Awareness Week, reminding the public that they have a key role in helping to protect the UK from the threat of terrorism.
Recent events in Paris have brought into sharp focus the type and scale of threat posed by international terrorism, and the relationship between the police and the public needs to be stronger than ever before to counter this threat.
Each day this week, police will be focusing on a different aspect of counter terrorism and terrorist threats from attack planning; protecting businesses and crowded places; cyber attacks; and online extremism and radicalisation.
Advice will be given to the public on the various ways that they can help be it through reporting suspicious activity on the Anti-Terrorist Hotline (0800 789 321), flagging up an extremist website or getting in touch with the right support services if they’re concerned about a loved one becoming radicalised.
Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe said:
“The police and security services are working hard to protect people and businesses from terrorism, and this week gives us an opportunity to remind communities about this threat and help them to take the necessary steps to stay safe. I cannot overstate the importance of the role that we all play in helping to protect Greater Manchester and the UK against the threat of terrorism.
“Whilst recent events in Paris were both sickening and horrific, people shouldn’t feel powerless. Instead, we encourage the public to focus on what you can do to make a difference, and make sure you know where to get information from the police in a crisis.
“Since the threat level was raised to ‘severe’ last year, police activity has increased accordingly in terms of number of arrests and investigations. But just as importantly, we’re getting more calls and more information from the public – which is vital to us, and we appeal to everyone to let us know if they see anything suspicious, no matter how small.”
As part of CT awareness week, information, advice and guidance documents will be published daily on the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) website at: www.gov.uk/nactso and Greater Manchester Police will be using social media to share all content using #CounterTerrorismUK.
Specialist counter terrorism officers and experts will also be carrying out a series of web chats during the week on the @PoliceChiefs Twitter account to give advice and answer questions on:
• what to do if you come across extremist or terrorist content online
• what to do if you’re concerned about a friend or relative who could be vulnerable to radicalisation
• how businesses can protect against the threat of attack – both physical and cyber
• how to protect your computer and hardware equipment from malicious intrusion
Any suspicious activity or behaviour can be reported to police via the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline by calling 0800 789 321.
