The Prevent review condemns the policy’s focus on those at risk of radicalisation – but if we don’t get to them early, someone else will
- Neil Basu was assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police
I first called for an independent review of Prevent in 2016 because I wanted people to see the importance of the counter-terrorism strategy and support it – especially the project’s author and owner, the government.
Now it’s here, the review, led by William Shawcross, is voluminous: but that does not always mean thorough. I would support much of it; but I do have some concerns.
Neil Basu was assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police. He was head of counter terrorism policing between 2015 and 2021 and was Met assistant commissioner of specialist operations from 2018 to 2021
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