Policing terrorism through communities

Associate Professor Sharon Pickering's report on counter-terrorism policing is set to change the way police monitor threats in Victoria.

Associate Professor Sharon Pickering

A senior lecturer in criminal justice and criminology, Associate Professor Pickering is co-author of Counter-Terrorism Policing and Culturally-Diverse Communities , the result of a three-year collaborative research project between Monash University and Victoria Police that recommends police foster closer community ties.

Released in October 2007, the report found that mutual trust between police and communities reduces the risk of terrorist threats linked to a process of radicalisation.

It recommends police adopt this "community policing" model, as opposed to traditional "paramilitary" techniques.

Associate Professor Pickering says the methods of the Royal Ulster Constabulary during Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict were the antithesis of community policing.

Internment without trial, house raids, stop-and-search -- all these powers were regularly used by the police against the Catholic community and Republican supporters and served to alienate and politicise sections of the population.

Associate Professor Pickering says the July 2005 London bombings were symptomatic of a "disconnect" between police and the community, a relationship that should be based on shared information.

In hindsight, neighbours reported chemical smells from the house where the bombers assembled their backpacks, but no one contacted police.

A better relationship with police would increase the flow of intelligence from the community, which in turn might have led to early intervention.

More information

• Research at Monash
• Master of Counter-Terrorism Studies
• Global Terrorism Research Centre
• Faculty of Arts, Monash University