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“I am a police officer and therefore it will always be part of my role to gather intelligence,” an officer in the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit says in an e-mail to community groups. “I will report back any information or intelligence which may suggest someone is a terrorist, or is planning to be one or to support others. “However, my role is to raise the level of awareness of the threat of terrorism and radicalisation and support and work with partners to try to prevent it.” The police officer had visited a nursery attached to a primary school and spoken to staff about children vulnerable to radicalization. “I do hope that you will tell me about persons, of whatever age, you think may have been radicalised or be vulnerable to radicalisation,” said the officer. “... Evidence suggests that radicalisation can take place from the age of 4.” The police unit confirmed that officers visited nursery schools to identify children vulnerable to radicalization. The unit said it had 21 uniformed counter-terrorism officers who engaged with communities, schools and other public bodies. The controversial move is part of a controversial government strategy to fight extremism in the country. Launched by the Home Office in 2003, the “Prevent” strategy is an updated version of the government's counter-terrorism strategy Contest. Standard The monitoring of young children for radicalization has sparked furor in the European country. “There is absolutely no example, nationally, of the police engaging with nursery-age kids specifically on this issue,” said Sir Norman Bettison, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on Prevent. “That is the age for learning about ‘Stranger Danger’ and ‘The Tufty Club’.” Arun Kundnani, of the Institute of Race Relations, reached out the anti-terror police officer to seek answers about the purpose of visiting nurseries. “He did seem to think it was standard,” Kundanani said. “He said it wasn’t just him or his unit that was doing it. He said the indicators were they [children] might draw pictures of bombs and say things like ‘all Christians are bad’ or that they believe in an Islamic state. “It seems that nursery teachers in the West Midlands area are being asked to look out for radicalisation.” The officer also argued that police visits to the nurseries would raise the children’s awareness. “He felt that it was necessary to cover nurseries as well as primary and secondary schools,” said Kundnani. “He said it was a precaution and that he wasn’t expecting to come back with a list.” Anger has been growing with the controversial anti-extremism strategy for specifically targeting the Muslim minority, estimated at nearly 2 million. The Guardian has recently revealed that Prevent was used to gather information about innocent, law-abiding Muslims. Communities Secretary John Denham admitted on Tuesday that the anti-extremism strategy was vague. |
Friday, December 11, 2009
UK Monitors Nurseries for Radicalization
