Terrorism

Definition

The policing of terrorism, sometimes called anti- or counter-terrorism, refers to a complex of multi-agency activities by mainly public bodies, such as the police, directed at those who support, threaten or use violence in pursuit of a political agenda. That is to say it relates to the policing of criminal activities for political purposes as opposed to crimes committed for economic or personal gain. Depending on the criminal justice system, the use of violence by extremists, such as animal rights groups, who seek only very limited policy changes can also come within the scope of the policing of terrorism. It is not a function that is exclusive to police forces as, depending on the resources available to the police in particular states, the services of security and intelligence agencies and the military are often required. It encompasses actions to prevent, pre-empt and manage terrorist activities with an increasing emphasis on the prevention and pre-emption aspects as modern societies become more risk averse. An initial appreciation of its scope and content in a particular state may often be found by reference to the details of specific legislation, for example, the UK's Terrorism Acts and the US Patriot Act, by reference to national counter-terrorism policies such as the UK's ‘Contest’ strategy and the French ‘Vigipirate’ plan, or to organizational structures like the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Distinctive Features

The discharge of this function is a highly location and problem specific activity. Its parameters will vary according to whether the terrorism is largely internal to a particular state, as with ETA in Spain, or is more international in character as with some forms of Islamist terrorism. The specifics of a terrorist threat and the political perception of the threat can determine whether the problem is treated as just an aspect of law enforcement, as in the UK and the Netherlands currently, or as a ‘war on terror’ matter, involving more of a military response as is evident in the current US response and as has characterized Russia's response to the situation in Chechnya. In this latter case and in others, such as the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and Northern Ireland (1968–1998), the terrorist activities were on the scale of an insurgency which is normally tackled under emergency legislation with suspensions of civil liberties and high profile roles for both ordinary and special military forces (SAS, Delta Force, etc.).

The multi-agency nature of the policing of terrorism is partly historical, reflecting different national organizational structures and, more contemporarily, it reflects responses to what has been termed, post September, 11, ‘new terrorism’ under which mass-destruction or mass-effect may be sought by terrorists without any clearly articulated political goal linkage and where the response clearly requires international cooperation between police and other agencies. Thus, in respect of primacy in the domestic gathering of intelligence on terrorists, in the US it is the task of a federal law enforcement agency, the FBI and in France that of the Direction de la Surveillance du [Page 301]Territoire which is part of the Police Nationale. By contrast, in the UK the task is assigned to a non-police agency, the Security Service (MI5) as is also the case in the Netherlands where it is the task of the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). Border control forms an important aspect of the prevention of terrorism and this may involve police (a UK example is the Special Branch Ports Units), customs and immigration services. In the US the largest category of personnel numbers in the DHS, 96,266 as of 2004, were to be found in its Transportation Security Administration.

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