Police offer Counter Terrorism training for staff and volunteers working at places of worship:

Counter Terrorism Police are calling on places of worship to take part in an innovative new training scheme that is proving a hit with major shopping and entertainment venues.
 
The package – free to use and developed in partnership with retail giant Marks & Spencer – aims to equip workers in crowded places with knowledge to help prevent terror attacks. 
 
Fifteen hundred companies nationwide have already signed up.
 
Called ACT Awareness e-Learning, the training covers how to spot the signs of suspicious behaviour and what to do if a major incident should take place. Free to use, the package can be divided into short sections to suit business or service needs. However, it takes just three quarters of an hour to complete – 45 vital minutes that could save lives.
 
Last year 36 people were killed and many more were injured in five separate incidents in London and Manchester. One of the attacks involved a group of worshipers outside a mosque. One man lost his life and many others were injured.
 
Police are now asking leaders of all faith institutions – especially those who host large congregations – to encourage staff and volunteers to take part.
 
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi, national lead for Protective Security, says: “There is no specific intelligence to say that places of worship are particularly at risk but sadly we have seen that attacks can take place anywhere at any time. All locations that attract large numbers of people should take steps to help protect their staff and visitors.”
 
Manchester suffered the largest loss of life in last year’s attacks, when 22 people died in an explosion at a pop concert. The city’s cathedral was one of the first organisations across the UK to sign up to the scheme.
 
The Dean of Manchester, the Very Reverend Rogers Govender, says: “The online training shows staff in simple terms what to look out for and what to do if the worst should happen.
 
“It’s basic and free advice that could save lives. I would encourage others across all faiths to ask their employees and volunteer workers to take part. We all need to play our part in helping to keep our communities safe.”
 
Organisations wanting more information, or to apply for registration, should visit the National Counter Terrorism Security Office website - www.gov.uk/government/organisations/national-counter-terrorism-security-office

Faith and Police Together is a new initiative aimed at building links between local police and their local faith communities. We believe that faith communities have a major role to play in bringing about community transformation and cohesion. When the police and faith community’s work together to tackle some of the issues the police are also facing, we will see lives and communities transformed. This, in turn can lead to reduced demand on police services, a valuable contribution to a service that has extensive demands placed upon it. Policing covers a vast ranges of issues within society and it is not always crime that is the problem. We have identified 4 priority areas which we want to concentrate on and to encourage faith communities to engage with over the next year. These priority areas include:-

•        Addiction
•        Homelessness
•        Youth gang and youth Knife crime (youth related crime)
•        Loneliness

 
We want to support the continued growth of strong and effective connections between the local police service, faith groups and local projects; thereby building the Faith and Police network in support of local communities. There are many projects and evidence of good practice already in existence and we hope utilise and work with some of those projects to help give faith communities templates and ideas to assist them locally to meet their needs. We will be promoting case studies and initiatives throughout the year. We want to see safer communities and the most vulnerable cared for and believe that this project will help deliver that ambition.

Deputy Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall Paul Netherton says “Faith and Police Together is a multi-faith initiative designed to galvanise the support of faith groups to support the police and to help address problems and challenges within our communities. Often faith groups have a high motivation to help within our society but sometimes don’t know how they can help or even how they talk to the police to find out what the problems are or how they can assist. My experience of working with groups and churches is that once you start the conversations you unlock massive social capital that can transform an area or make a real difference to a problem. This could be around Street Angels patrolling the night time economy, drop in centres for young people or cafes where the homeless or lonely can find support. The benefit for the police and all the public sector is significant in terms of reducing demand and finding long term solutions. This is a great initiative and is welcomed by the police and will lead to some transformational change to some of the most challenging social issues across the country.”
 
Marie Reavey a police officer from Norfolk has recently been seconded to this project to help progress our objectives. If you are keen to find out how you can get involved please check out our website www.faithandpolicetogether.org.uk.  If you are working in the 4 priority areas within your community or would like more details about this exciting new project please contact Acting Inspector Marie Reavey on reaveym@norfolk.pnn.police.uk .