Counter Terrorism

Current threat level

The current threat from international terrorism can be viewed on the MI5 website.

What you can do to help

The police and the security and intelligence agencies depend on information from the public. Be their eyes and ears and help keep yourself, your family and your local community safe by looking out for any activity that seems to be unusual and reporting it to the police, in confidence.

If anything gives you cause for concern, do not rely on someone else – ACT. Find out about what kind of activity and behaviour you should report on the Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) website.

If you have any information about unusual activity or behaviour, you can report it in confidence:

  • Report your concerns to concern@lancashire.pnn.police.uk
  • Call the police confidentially on 0800 789 321
  • If you think a threat is imminent call the police on 999

Online material

You can also report illegal or harmful information, pictures or videos you’ve found on the internet such as:

  • articles, images, speeches or videos that promote terrorism or encourage violence
  • content encouraging people to commit acts of terrorism
  • websites made by terrorist or extremist organisations
  • videos of terrorist attacks

Report online material anonymously on the Home Office website

Introduction to Prevent

Prevent is part of the UK’s counter terrorism strategy. It aims to prevent people from supporting violent extremism and all forms of potential terrorism, such as Al Qaeda, Daesh inspired, far right, Irish republican, animal rights, faith-based extremism and other types of terrorism in all its forms.

Like all local authorities, the council has a legal duty to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. We work with local partners to protect the public, prevent crime and to promote strong, integrated communities.

Preventing violent extremism is one of the ‘4 Ps’ within the Government’s strategy for countering violent extremism, known as Contest:

  • Prevent – stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism.
  • Pursue – stopping terrorist attacks.
  • Protect – strengthening protection against terrorist attacks.
  • Prepare – where an attack cannot be stopped, mitigating its impact.

The current Prevent strategy is made up of three key objectives:

  • Respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and of those extremist views conducive to it.
  • Prevent vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support.
  • Work with sectors and institutions where there are either risks of radicalisation or opportunities to prevent it – or both. This includes education, faith, health, charities, prisons and probation. The strategy spells out what the Government is planning in each area and also looks at the particular issue of the Internet.

What opportunities are there to get involved with Prevent?

Online training for front line staff – an introduction to the Prevent duty, which explains how it aims to safeguard vulnerable people from being radicalised to supporting terrorism or becoming terrorists themselves.

Childnet: Trust Me resource for schools – an excellent classroom resource which can support addressing online extremism and propaganda through digital literacy. The resource aims to provoke discussion among students so as to challenge young people to think critically about what they see online and is available with both Pprimary and secondary lesson plans.

Online radicalisation guidance for schools – developed by Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board colleagues to support addressing online radicalisation as part of the broader online safeguarding agenda in schools. The guidance provides a number of considerations and recommendations for schools as well as signposts to a range of freely-available supporting tools and resources.

Vodafone: Digital Parenting (Issue 5) – The Parent Zone in association with Vodafone have released the latest version of the highly recommended Digital Parenting magazine. The resource is free to access online and contains useful and practical information on a variety of subjects (Issue 5 contains reference to digital resilience).

NSPCC NetAware – a really useful resource guide to help adults stay up to date with the social networks children use. The resource highlights various popular social media apps and provides an explanation of what it is, age ratings, why it is popular and points to be aware of.

Childnet: Crossing the Line – the PSHE Toolkit – a highly recommended toolkit resource to use with students aged 11-14 containing films, lesson plans, guidance and worksheets to explore and address online issues such as sexting, self-esteem, peer pressure and cyberbullying.

Further information