Memorandum from the Arts and Humanities
Research Council (AHRC) (PVE 22)
SUMMARY
— This response focuses on the following
question only: How appropriate, and how effective, is the Government's
strategy for engaging with communities? Has the Government been
speaking to the right people? Has its programme reached those
at whom it is or should be aimed?
— This response discusses the Inquiry's
questions, using evidence gained in a one year qualitative research
study noted in paragraph three below, that analysed grass-roots
approaches to countering terrorism in the London area.
— This response focuses on the importance
of religious knowledge to successful partnership approaches to
countering terrorism, and the role that Muslim police officers
play.
— Also discussed is the role that women
and young people play, and some evidence of how they can best
be reached and engaged.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. The Arts and Humanities Research Council
(AHRC) welcomes this opportunity to respond to the committee's
inquiry. This response does not include or necessarily reflect
the views of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
2. The AHRC supports research within a huge
subject domain from traditional humanities subjects, such as religion,
history, modern languages and English literature, to the creative
and performing arts. The AHRC funds research and postgraduate
study within the UK's higher education institutions.
3. The AHRC and Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC) provide funding for the Religion and Society Research
Programme. One of the projects funded as part of this programme
is entitled An examination of partnership approaches to challenging
religiously endorsed violence involving Muslim groups and police.
4. The information in this response summarises
the evidence found by the research team, led by Dr Basia Spalek
at the University of Birmingham. The research team includes an
Islamic theologian, a criminologist, a sociologist and a former
head of the Metropolitan Police's Muslim Contact Unit (MCU). This
response should therefore be viewed as a summary of the evidence
gathered as part of an independent research study carried out
by AHRC/ESRC funded researchers, and not a statement of the AHRC's
and ESRC's views on preventing violent extremism.
5. The ESRC are submitting a separate response
outlining some further research which is also supported by the
AHRC.
RESPONSES TO
THE INQUIRY
QUESTIONS
How appropriate, and how effective, is the Government's
strategy for engaging with communities?
Community policing models can bring tangible results
6. Community policing models are increasingly
being drawn upon under engagement activities within Prevent as
a way of building trust between communities and police. One such
model is the "Neighbourhood Policing" (NP) model in
England and Wales which it is being argued that in responding
to individuals' routine security concerns around issues such as
anti-social behaviour or crime, police officers will be more likely
to persuade community members of the benefits of assisting them
in establishing the presence of any suspicions about potential
terrorist activities.
7. The MCU is a good example of successful,
direct engagement with communities and those deemed "at risk"
of violent extremism. Working in a multi-agency environment, the
MCU has succeeded in reclaiming a mosque from hard-core violent
extremist supporters and has introduced Muslim police officers
into counter-terrorism policing.
8. Initial face-to-face contact with police
officers has developed into working relationships that involve
police officers working with community members on a host of areas
related to counter-terrorism, from issues in relation to community
safety and cohesion, to Prevent work with young people and direct
challenges to violent extremist propaganda and structures.
Religious convictions can provide strong motivation
for community members to co-operate with the police's efforts
to fight religious violence.
9. Individuals' commitment to Islam may
provide them with a feeling of moral responsibility or a duty
to help the authorities in counter-terrorism work, to form good
relations with others and help people around them. They "want
to do good, but want to contextualise this 'Islamically' within
the framework of their own religious values", to solve social
justice problems and the issue of religious violence through an
Islamic framework. While engaging proactively, such community
members also scrutinise the messages of violent extremists, exposing
the non-Islamic elements and rejecting the violent approach to
political change altogether. In doing so, they draw their answers
from within, not without Islam.
10. Knowledge of, and experience in, the
various ideologies of political Islam is an essential factor in
winning the ideological battle and driving preachers who have
promoted this ideology out of influential mosques. The success
of earlier efforts by some community groups has now resulted in
a number of more sophisticated and less conventional projects
all based on preventing violent extremism by exposing the illegitimacy
of its ideological bases. It is important for community members
to clarify that their religious views and beliefs are not to be
compromised as a result of their relations with the police and
counter-terrorism work.
The role of Muslim police officers within Prevent
is also important to consider
11. It may be that some police officers
are happy to talk openly about how their faith will feature in
their work and this can be a source of reassurance in developing
open, respectful and equal relationships with their community
partners without requiring them to make unwilling compromises.
Muslim police officers not only may bring with them operational
policing and community policing experience, but also social and
cultural capital that might enable police-community partnerships
to be built, particularly with those sections of Muslim communities
who are generally distrustful of the police. Muslim police officers
can play an instrumental role in building bridges with members
of mosques, developing trusting relationships with mosque communities
and then extending these relationships to non-Muslim police officers.
12. In order for Muslim police officers
to access certain sections of Muslim communities they must have
credibility with those communities and respect for the religious
identifications of community members. In order to partner people
for whom religion is important, it is often necessary for police
officers who are making initial contacts with community members
to show religious sincerity and credibility. Interestingly, the
number of Muslim police officers engaged in community counter-terrorism
work is extremely low—27 individuals nationally at
the time of writing, of whom two are women (NAMP & Demos 2008:8).
Has the Government been speaking to the right
people?
13. Identifying which community groups are
best placed to challenge the behaviours and attitudes of individuals
deemed at risk of violent extremism is a key issue. It may be
that in some instances, it is important for groups to have knowledge
about, and shared experience, backgrounds and credibility of the
people vulnerable to or already engaged in violent discourse and
action. Such a 'street' approach is invaluable to this form of
countering terrorism. Indeed, the street credibility of a community
member or group, and their in-depth knowledge of Islamic texts
and jurisprudence can be crucial in fighting violent extremism
on ideological grounds. Groups who have less credentials, less
knowledge or who are not trusted by others of the same faith will
be easily defeated in the ideological debate and will be unable
to sustain the position of a convincing alternative to extremism.
Has its programme reached those at whom it is
or should be aimed?
Women and young people are key groups in the Prevent
agenda
14. Another purpose of engagement might
be to build trust between police officers and Muslim communities
more generally, particularly when activities under Pursue and
Disrupt may concern and affect some community members. Counter-terrorism
is a context traditionally characterised by secrecy; therefore,
part of ongoing engagement between police and Muslim communities
can be to dispel fears or suspicions that people may have which
may be preventing them from working more closely with the police.
15. In the case of young people, who are
arguably facing the greatest levels of scrutiny in the counter-terrorism
arena, issues of trust and access are paramount. Working with
youth workers who have the credibility and expertise to tackle
sensitive issues has proven to be highly successful, for example
in allowing for preventative interventions with young people both
vulnerable to and in some cases already holding violent extremist
ideologies. This is not the remit for the vast majority of youth
workers, but those experienced at the street level, and with the
drivers of violent radicalisation. These experts may have particular
theological affiliations and may have been through the process
of radicalisation themselves.
16. Women are viewed as key stakeholders
within the Prevent agenda, with initiatives such as the Muslim
Women's Advisory Group well publicised. It could be argued that
a number of barriers exist preventing Muslim women at a grassroots
level from engaging in Prevent and Pursue strands. Overcoming
these barriers would enable greater numbers of community members
to engage, and specific to Muslim women, allow for contact through
key, experienced individuals with some of the most isolated and
potentially vulnerable community members.
There is a need to focus on individuals rather than
whole social groups
17. Engagement that takes place under the
counter-terrorism Pursue and Disrupt strands should be specifically
aimed at those individuals undertaking criminal activities rather
than being targeted rather diffusely at particular social groupings,
in this case Muslim communities. This is because forms of engagement
that exist within Purse and Disrupt, if inappropriately carried
out, may alienate and erode the trust of the social groupings
that are being targeted for intensified street policing or other
intrusive tactics, yet trust is crucial for obtaining community
intelligence. It is important to establish the purpose of engagement
as this will influence decisions about who should be engaged.
One purpose might be to provide reassurance to Muslim communities
with respect to issues such as racist or Islamophobic attacks,
particularly in the aftermath of an attempted or real terror attack.
Here, engagement should have a fairly broad remit, being inclusive
of all members of Muslim communities.
September 2009
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