Nursery visited by counter-terrorism police officer

By Dominic Casciani
BBC News

West Midlands police have confirmed that a counter-terrorism officer visited a nursery school as part of a programme to combat violent extremism.

The sergeant spoke to staff at the nursery, attached to a primary school.

An e-mail from the officer said part of his role was to gather intelligence, as well as raising awareness of threats.

Earlier this week, part of the national counter-terrorism strategy was relaunched, in a bid to assure Muslims that they were not being spied upon.

Details of the West Midlands visit emerged after the officer involved sent an e-mail to community groups to explain his role in counter-terrorism.

The email also defended West Midlands Police practices, shortly after a national newspaper report claimed forces were spying on Muslim communities.

In the e-mail, the officer wrote that he did not want his position as the "security and partnerships officer" with the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit to become a "barrier to engagement".

"I am a police officer and therefore it will always be part of my role to gather intelligence and I will report back any information or intelligence which may suggest someone is a terrorist, or is planning to be one or to support others.

"However, my role is to raise the level of awareness of the threat of terrorism and radicalisation and support and work with partners to try to prevent it.

Preventing extremism

"And I do hope that you will tell me about persons, of whatever age, you think may have been radicalised or be vulnerable to radicalisation."

The officer refers to a press report that a nine-year-old boy was referred for "deprogramming" and adds: "Evidence suggests that radicalisation can take place from the age of four so this does not surprise me."

West Midlands Police said the sergeant had only spoken to staff at the nursery once - and that had only happened because he was visiting staff from the attached primary school.

Detective Inspector Richard Moore said: "We don't work in nurseries and we don't work in primary schools.

"But we have a team of officers who are based in communities. They are very visible, uniformed officers and accessible to communities. Their responsibility is to prevent violent extremism. It's their job to be known by their communities, to build relationships and to deal with any concerns."

Last year, during the trial of Birmingham man Parviz Khan over a plot to kidnap and kill a British Muslim soldier, the court heard claims that he was raising his own children to be militants.

The Home Office has also revealed that children as young as seven have been referred to a special national project to counter grooming and radicalisation.

The cases typically involve Muslim scholars, community activists and police officers who have identified the youngster who has been targeted by extremists.

"We're there to support communities. We're concerned where there is vulnerability," said DI Moore. "But we want to do that hand in hand with communities."

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