Communities Defeat Terrorism Lessons about working together Dick Fedorcio Director of Public Affairs Metropolitan Police Service Date Arial 14pt

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MPS / National resources Special Branch Force response BCU activity Counter Terrorism Intelligence units (CTIU) Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) Counter-Terrorism Command (CTC) National specialist CT units CONTEST National Policing Plan ACPO (TAM) Strategic Plan Force / BCU capability Common regional capability Enhanced national capability (located in regions) National specialist capability National CT strategy International Liaison International Operations

Recent Threat Level History 1 August 2006 introduced as Severe 10 August 2006 raised to Critical (Op Overt) 13 August 2006 lowered to Severe 30 June 2007 raided to Critical (Op Seagram) 4 July 2007 lowered to Severe 20 July 2009 lowered to Substantial 22 January 2010 raised to Severe

Threat Levels Low - an attack is unlikely Moderate - an attack is possible, but not likely Substantial - an attack is a strong possibility Severe - an attack is highly likely Critical - an attack is expected imminently

The digital trend... Body copy Arial 20/32pt 1,000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte 1,000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte 1,000 terabytes = 1 petabyte

The digital trend....

Hi-tech challenges Tb £6010 years Mb£6006 hours

Since 11 September 2001…. 1,661 terrorism arrests across the UK including: Alva, Clackmannanshire, Birmingham, Bristol, Crawley, Dewsbury, Exeter, Gloucester, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle, Norfolk……. 230 people have been convicted of terrorism related offences

Forest Gate  June 2006  Major counter terrorism op  ‘Credible Intelligence’  Raid in Landsdown Road, Forest Gate  Chemical explosive device  ‘250 officers involved’

Friday 2 June 2006  Suspect shot  Search of house begins  Initial statement released at  Extensive media interest  Mobile phone images being sent to the media from local residents.  Briefing with stakeholders takes place  Leaflet prepared for residents  ‘IPCC investigation limits what we can say’  Pooled media interview with Peter Clarke  ‘Not Prepared to Discuss’

Weekend Press  Media vacuum  Speculation  Community impact

Monday 5 June 2006  Daily Mail – ‘Police won’t find a thing’  Guardian – ‘More questions than answers’  Daily Star – ‘Cover up fury ’  Peter McKay, Daily Mail…. ‘Scotland Yard might have another disaster on its hands…police more concerned with media management than proper investigation.’

Community Impact  Community briefings/meetings  BOCU commander meets with community leaders  Community Together bulletins  Media interviews with local people  Protests and demonstrations  Running commentary from legal team

Urgent Review  Reviewed statement/strategy  ‘250 officers’  What about the ‘what ifs’ ?  Lack of police presence  ‘IPCC investigation limits what we can say’  No rebuttal  Misinformation quickly became fact  Extensive criticism from ethnic minority media  Head of News, Chief Press Officer, Senior Press Officer SO all on holiday !

And then…..  Brothers released without charge  Nothing found in-house  Loss of community confidence  Demands for an apology  Brothers press conference  MPS apologises to local community two weeks later

New Counter Terrorism Strategy = OpCI  Operation }  Community}  Investigation} Borough Commander Head of Anti-Terrorist Branch

Under the Spotlight  MPA Scrutiny of MPS media handling  Evidence from Met officers, journalists and community reps  ‘Reluctance of the MPS to engage with media and to share information created an information vacuum, subsequently filled with rumour….’  ‘Neither MPS or IPCC were willing to comment on fevered speculation….  ‘Over use of not prepared to discuss’  ‘MPS needs to be aggressive and quick to challenge incorrect information.’  Nine Recommendations

Learning from our Mistakes  New Counter Terrorism Media Strategy  Protocol between MPS/IPCC  Enhanced Media Monitoring facilities  Communities Press Team