Report suspicious activity and behaviour to tackle terrorism

Action Counters Terrorism: Report suspicious activity and behaviour to tackle terrorism

Police Forces across the North West are supporting a national counter terrorism campaign, highlighting terrorist attack planning methods and calling on the public to report any suspicions.

The second phase of the ACT campaign is being launched nationally by the new head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner of Specialist Operations Neil Basu, who is also revealing that more than a fifth of reports from the public produce intelligence which is helpful to police.

Now, head of Counter Terrorism in the North West, Detective Chief Superintendent Dominic Scally, is introducing the campaign into the North West.

DCS Scally is joining ACSO Neil Basu in praising the public’s willingness to ACT in response to last year’s unprecedented rise in terrorist activity, which resulted in record numbers of people contacting the police through online referral forms and the confidential hotline to report suspicious behaviour and activity.

The launch of the second phase ‘ACT –Action Counters Terrorism’ campaign, will feature a new 60-second film based on real life foiled plots, which will show examples of terrorist-related suspicious activity and behavior, as well as attack planning methodology.

A call to action will encourage the public to report suspicious behaviour and activity via the online tool (gov.uk/ACT), helping the police to prevent terrorism and save lives.

Detective Chief Superintendent Dominic Scally, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West said: “We want people to trust their instincts and ACT by reporting in confidence something they feel is unusual or suspicious. Like other criminals, terrorists need to plan and that one piece of information could be vital in helping us to stop an attack. We need the help of communities to defeat terrorism and this campaign will inform people of what to look out for and how to report their concerns.”

Since the beginning of 2017, 10 Islamist and four right wing terror plots have been foiled across the country.  Of the nearly 31000 public reports to Counter Terrorism (CT) Policing during 2017, more than 6600 (21.2%) resulted in useful intelligence - information which is used by UK officers to inform live investigations or help build an intelligence picture of an individual or group.

Research carried out by CT Policing suggests that while more than 80% of people are motivated to report suspicious activity or behaviour, many are unclear exactly what they should be looking for. The second phase of the ‘ACT –Action Counters Terrorism’ from CT Policing aims to educate the public about terrorist attack planning and reinforce the message that any piece of information, no matter how small, could make the difference between a lethal attack or a successful disruption.