During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme on Friday, 11 August, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, discusses the current threat from terrorism and how this has changed in scale and nature in the past six months.
The full transcript can be found on the London Metropolitan Police Website.
I thought it was an excellent interview when I heard it on the radio; glad to see the transcript.
This challenge will not be met by simply doing more of what has been done. It requires a change of paradigm, re-organisation and the targeted application of technology to enable the experts to do what they are good at, faster and better. All of which are likely to be already underway.
The bits that stand out to me:
1. “there are around 500 active counter-terrorism investigations involving some 3,000 subjects of interest…the numbers are currently growing”
2. “Just to keep on person under surveillance requires a dozen, or even 20 police officers 24-hours a day”
3. “The challenge is how good is our radar at spotting the ripples in the pond further out”
4. “… there are issues about both our systems and how we can improve how we work together and how we connect across the country.”
5. “…this widening cohort of people that we’re concerned about – and I mentioned 3,000 and 20,000 – our ability to keep our radar on them, that’s no longer just a job for police and police and security services … it’s going to take a whole community effect”