Counter-terrorism policing - An inspection of the police's contribution to the government's Prevent programme

Published on: 9 March 2020

Publication types: Counter-terrorism

Police Forces: All local forces in England and Wales, British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary and MOD Police

Prevent is one of four strands of CONTEST, the UK Government’s strategy for countering terrorism. It aims to tackle the causes of radicalisation, and support and safeguard those at risk of becoming radicalised. As such, the police have a critical role identifying people who are vulnerable to radicalisation and referring them for appropriate support.

As part of HMICFRS’s counter-terrorism inspections programme, we carried out an inspection to examine how effective the police are in contributing to Prevent.

Between October 2018 and February 2019, we visited all 43 Home Office-funded police forces in England and Wales, as well as the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Ministry of Defence Police. This inspection sought to establish whether forces have the capability to meet terrorist threats faced by the UK.

This report sets out the high level findings from this inspection and is redacted, in the interest of national security.