What are the aims of Prevent?

Prevent aims to:

Safeguard and support those at most risk of radicalisation through early intervention, identifying them and offering support
Tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism
Enable those who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate

We don’t necessarily make an immediate connection between terrorism and safeguarding. When we think of terrorism, we often picture the act of violence itself; the atrocities brought about by the attack. However, terrorism goes much deeper than this and lots of things are happening beneath the surface long before we see an attack.

Signs and Behaviours

Emotional

They may:

Become depressed and stop participating in their usual activities
Lose interest in previous activities or friends
Become more withdrawn or moody
Become aggressive or prone to anger
Develop a conviction that their religion, culture or beliefs are under threat and treated unjustly
Be getting preoccupied with feelings of hatred or anger about particular mainstream or minority groups

Verbal

They may:

Have a sudden change in language or use of words
Be using scripted speech or speaking the words of others
Be becoming fixated on a certain subject
Be asking inappropriate questions
Be argumentative and less tolerant of other people views
Be using language that supports ‘us and them’ thinking
Make racist or inflammatory comments about other groups or minorities
Be promoting the use of violence as a means to an end

or minority groups

Physical

They may:

Change their dress or style to accord with a new group
Have possession of materials, tattoos or symbols associated with an extremist cause (for example, specific numbers e.g. '18', '28', '88' or the swastika which are associated with certain right-wing extreme groups)
Be increasing their use of the internet
Possess or be searching for extremist literature online, or be secretive about their internet interests, for example, switching screens when you come near their phone or computer
Be adopted by new friendship groups
Have sudden changes to their routine
Go missing from their home, school or care setting
Have unexplained absences or trips away

Behaviours

Please remember that taken in isolation many of these signs may be normal behaviours, but taken in context could give rise to concern, e.g., new tattoos, anger, condoning violence. For example, a person adopting a more conservative religious dress may not seem significant but in context, or combined with other vulnerabilities, may be a sign that someone is at risk.

Emotional behaviours

Emotional behaviours taken in isolation can sometimes be difficult to detect.

Verbal behaviours

Verbal behaviours (particularly if there is blatant statement of intent to cause harm to others) are easier to notice or identify as they are unambiguous - this could be scripted speech (i.e. based on information derived from the internet, for example, hate preachers etc.).

Change in use of words/language. This could be pejorative terms ‘kuffar/infidels’ being used to describe non-believers (often used by Islamists) or, Right-Wing Extremist or White Supremacist rhetoric i.e. using derogatory terms for minorities or other faith groups, e.g. Jews, Muslims etc. Sometimes these may be more nuanced terms, e.g. some extreme far right groups refer to conspiracy theories e.g. Great Replacement theory or the 'New World Order'.

Physical behaviours

Symbols could be tattoos or alphabetical references e.g. ‘28’ signifies Blood & Honour a ‘racist music scene’ i.e. letters of the alphabet, '18' refers to Adolf Hitler and ‘88’ refers to Heil Hitler’. It could be extreme images such as beheadings being shared on phones or online.

This will require contextual informed professional judgements to be taken. We don’t have a surveillance role but staff in the Health sector are encouraged to simply: NOTICE/CHECK/SHARE.

If something doesn't feel right, trust your gut instincts and speak to someone.

Voice Your Concern

Trust your professional instincts and speak about them with a trusted colleague or your line manager.

Susceptibilities

What makes people susceptible?

It’s important to remember that we all at times share feelings and influences. This may help you to begin to understand why people can become prepared to act in extreme ways for people or things in their lives they feel strongly about.

Most of us, however, have some degree of resilience or protective factors like a loving family, networks of friends, strong faith, a sense of purpose, identity and belonging, house and job etc.

What is often missing for the vulnerable individual, that is feeling lonely isolated, angry or frustrated, is a support network to address those feelings or to provide an outlet to express or voice them.

By no means are we suggesting that having one or all of these characteristics or circumstances will drive someone towards terrorism. However, these factors often lead to a sense of injustice, making someone feel like an outsider, isolated, or not listened to.

It is in these circumstances that a radicaliser can see and use an opportunity to exploit the sense of grievance or isolation and provide an alternative (often more malign sense of purpose), or a new sense of identity, meaning and belonging.

One of the unique features of such extremist groups is that they can speak directly to vulnerabilities many people may experience at different times in their lives and offer alternative friendships or support networks. This often involves members of such groups actively seeking to recruit individuals in person either face-to-face or increasingly online and on social media platforms.

Being in tune with how these factors could make someone feel is hugely important in being able to protect and support them. There may often be opportunities to intervene and prevent vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism.

Case Studies

Have a look at some case studies that demonstrate different signs or behaviours of potential radicalisation.

Select all the images to view the case studies.

We were called out to Mrs Riley last night after she had suffered an acute asthma attack in the family home. She was upstairs lying on the bed, struggling for breath.

When we went to attend to the patient, we noticed that the adjacent bedroom door was open and the wall was covered with Nazi paraphernalia, including a full size swastika flag. There was also a large hunting knife and what looked like a homemade cosh on the dressing table.

Mr Riley's teenage son slammed the bedroom door in my face and told me 'to mind my business and stop being nosey!' and the husband also became extremely angry and aggressive and told me to 'just get my wife to hospital.'

When we came downstairs with the patient, I also noticed a number of pamphlets on the hallway table with some pretty nasty racist and violent messages on them. There were also two other children in the house, who couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old and I’m concerned that they may been exposed to the content of this extreme literature.

A 16-year-old patient of mine, Bailey, attended a routine dental appointment today and was not himself. He looked and acted very differently from his last check-up six months ago. He now has a skinhead haircut and was wearing what looked like a Nazi style tee-shirt and was moaning about ‘immigrants taking our jobs and houses’ and that ‘someone needed to sort them out.’ I’ve been treating him for over 5 years, and this seems really out of character for him.

When our Asian dental nurse tried to prepare him for the examination, he refused to be touched by her and stormed out of the treatment room. The practice manager has since spoken to his father on the phone, but he was extremely rude and told us that his son had ‘the right idea’.

Elliot has been referred to the Mental Health Crisis team by a friend at the local mosque. Apparently, he had become very erratic during Friday prayers, calling for the 'death of all non-believers' and threatening staff when they asked him to leave.

He is an 18-year-old living in temporary accommodation who has recently left council care and has no immediate friends or family. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the age of 12 and has previously been supported through the local Learning Disabilities Team but has become disengaged from services. When I spoke to him, he told me that he has been advised by a friend he has met at a private group online that he has a religious duty to 'fight the enemies of Islam'.

A health visitor went to see Carla and her new born baby boy Ismael at home. When she arrived at the house, she was very busy tending to her baby and her two older boys aged 11 and 13 were watching videos on a tablet. She caught a glance of what they were both so absorbed in and saw footage of executions and atrocities being carried out, including beheadings. It was pretty concerning stuff.

When she inquired about this, Carla told me that her husband is always showing news stuff to the boys and is trying to educate them about the world. She also said if she tried to intervene her husband would be furious.

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