Tackling Terrorism - What Are the Police Doing?

West Mercia Police takes the threat of international and domestic terrorism very seriously. We work closely with other police forces throughout the UK as well as various government departments and partner agencies to ensure West Mercia remains a safe place to live, work and visit

The force undertakes a wide range of activities as part of the government's national counter terrorism strategy, known as CONTEST.  We work alongside the security services and other police forces within the West Midlands region to gather intelligence, ensure that any offenders are identified and prosecuted and provide support for those who may fall victim to radicalisation.  This, together with robust planning and training processes helps to minimise the possibility of terrorist acts taking place at all.

These activities can be summarised under the following four headings:

• To Prevent - to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremists. This is a long term and vital element focusing on building relationships with all communities including providing assistance to key groups who experience community tensions and grievances. Our aim is to reassure and build resilience in our communities and, together with our partners, raise awareness and provide support to those who are affected.  In this way, we impact upon the underlying causes of violent extremism and diminish support for their activities.  Read more.
  
• To Pursue - to stop terrorist attacks.  This will be achieved by improving our understanding of terrorist networks, tracking down terrorists, disrupting their activity and bringing them to justice.
  
• To Protect - to strengthen the country's overall protection against terrorist attacks.  We must protect all those people who either live, work or pass through the West Mercia area by ensuring that the area increasingly becomes a harder target for terrorist activity.
  
• To Prepare - where an attack cannot be stopped, to try to lessen its impact.  The force must prepare for the consequences of a terrorist attack and improve its resilience to cope with this and other major disruptive challenges.