Glasgow Airport; one of the The force is with you slides used in an Operation The Big Issue in the North asked for details on how forces in its area that had signed up to Project Griffin meeting. This page: Griffin had delivered the programme. The responses varied widely. Griffin officials rammed Cheshire Police has held one awareness event. Greater Manchester Police runs training sessions home their message by monthly for 42 months with an average of 20 attendees. Leeds-Bradford International Airport runs its linking Steps the band to own Project Griffin training. steps to treat poison attacks Both South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester forces, like East Midlands Airport, invited The Big Issue in the North to attend a Project Griffin training session. In contrast Derbyshire and Northumbria said they had no information to release despite the fact they are Project Griffin members, Merseyside Police said it would cost too much to provide the information requested and Cumbria didn’t respond.
environmental groups, Irish republican splinter “If you have
organisations and fathers’ rights groups as potential sources. any precon- Each force adapts the basic Project Griffin formula for its own needs. Greater Manchester Police has a ceptions of Griffin training session booked in every month until what a terrorist March next year. Delegates get information on, among other things, city centre evacuation plans. Those who looks like, have signed up can take part in monthly conference calls with the force’s CTSAs to get the latest threat forget it.” assessments. Det Insp Andy Brown of Greater Manchester Police’s Counter Terrorist Unit said: “We are “Terrorist plots occur across the UK,” he said. “It is extremely pleased local security personnel have not just a London problem. If you have any pledged their support to Project Griffin. With their preconceptions of what a terrorist looks like, forget help we can ensure Greater Manchester is a hostile it.” environment for terrorist activity and, in turn, a safer Towersey also made clear that, while al-Qaeda was place.” the main threat, attacks could come from other At the airport, it was the turn of the army bomb directions. He listed animal rights activists, disposal team to give a talk on the kind of devices it
Is Prevent the cure? they see fit on Prevent programmes.
Ostensibly it is a hearts and minds operation, which aims to link with community groups and schools. But a strong and controversial by-product is the generation of intelligence about potential The government’s Prevent strategy is intended to tackle extremists, which Muslim communities are encouraged to share with the police. the violent extremism that could lead to terrorism. But Earlier this year Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights organisation Liberty, described it critics say its emphasis on producing intelligence about bluntly as “the biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times and an affront to civil liberties”. the Muslim community is counter-productive, writes In Manchester, one of the top ten recipients of Phil Chamberlain, and damages race relations Prevent funding in the country, the council has been working with the local police counter-terrorism unit as well as voluntary organisations such as Millions of pounds have been spent on a programme Peacemaker, which was born of the 2001 Oldham aimed at preventing the radicalisation of young riots. Schools, prisons, probation service, mosques Muslims – but question marks remain over its and other organisations have all been drawn in. effectiveness. Some of the money has gone on research to map the The Prevent programme was launched by the Muslim and ethnic minority communities and government in the wake of the 7/7 bombings in 2005. convene focus groups. One element involves Aiming to challenge violent extremism, it is led by monitoring “new arrivals in the community”. the Department for Communities and Local There have been a number of projects aimed at Government (DCLG) but has strong anti-terrorist young people, either through drama workshops in input from the Foreign Office, the Home Office’s low- schools or providing more sports and leisure key Office for Security and Counter Terrorism and the facilities. The University of Manchester has created a Research, Information and Communication Unit, Muslim Student Leadership scheme, to provide a which is based in the Home Office but staffed by a “safe” forum for debates. Several projects have number of departments. specifically targeted Muslim women, while an The DCLG has given grants to a number of local informal network of mosques has been established. authorities in conjunction with the police to spend as Some 250 frontline council staff have been given
Anthony Lee Cunningham v. Warren T. Diesslin, Warden, Buena Vista Correctional Facility, Colorado Department of Corrections, 92 F.3d 1054, 10th Cir. (1996)