Prevent / Violent Extermism

The UK faces a continuing threat from international terrorism and extreme violence. As part of the measures to keep people safe, the Government introduced a counter-terrorism strategy known as CONTEST.

Delivery of this strategy is organised around four areas:

• Pursue - to stop terrorist attacks.
• Prevent - to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremists.
• Protect - to strengthen our protection against terrorism attacks.
• Prepare - where we cannot stop an attack, mitigate its impact.

To reduce the risk from terrorism and extreme violence, we need to not only stop attacks but also safeguard and stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism.

As a result of this thinking the Government introduced it’s PREVENT strategy.

PREVENT has five main strands:

• To challenge the ideology behind violent extremism and support mainstream voices.
• Disrupt those who promote violent extremism and support the places where they operate.
• Support individuals who are vulnerable to recruitment, or have already been recruited by violent extremism.
• Increase the resilience of communities to violent extremism.
• To address the grievances which ideologues are exploiting.

PREVENT also has two cross-cutting themes:

• Develop prevent related intelligence, analysis and research.
• Improve strategic communication.

The Government’s PREVENT Strategy reflects the recognition that a centrally-driven approach to counter-terrorism will not be effective on its own and there needs to be work in partnership with local authorities. Local communities working in partnership with their local authority, Police, education institutions and others are at the heart of stopping people becoming or supporting violent extremists.

The local position

In January 2009 the Torbay Strategic Partnership assumed responsibility for the PREVENT agenda locally. A delivery group for PREVENT has been established, which reports to the Safer Communities Joint Commissioning Executive.

The Delivery Group includes:

• Devon and Cornwall Police
• Torbay Council
• Safer Communities Torbay
• Community Partnership/Torbay Strategic Partnership representative
• Torbay Islamic Centre representative
• Interfaith Forum representative
• Torbay NHS Care Trust representative

The delivery group will be further developed as necessary to meet the changing needs of the local community.

There is already a wide range of activity taking place in Torbay to strengthen social cohesion in relation to the PREVENT agenda. This includes:

• Multi-agency partnerships set up to look at crime and disorder issues.
• Community Partnerships are operating across Torbay and are responsible for bringing together the aspirations and needs of the local communities in partnership with key statutory agencies.
• Street Wardens operate in areas of Torbay that require additional support and provide both community development and public reassurance to communities. A Junior Street Warden scheme (JSW CREW) also operates in these areas for young people aged 8 to 16.
• Community development work is continually being undertaken by many agencies and groups including the voluntary sector, housing associations, Interfaith Forum, and Torbay Islamic Centre.
• An initiative called Torbay Visiting International Students (TVIS) promotes cohesion and provides reassurance to visitors and the local population alike.