Can you use community policing for counter terrorism? Evidence from NSW, Australia

community policing counterterrorism counter-radicalisation

The study reported here analyzed the effects of the NSW Police Anti Terrorist/Counter Radicalization Strategy in regard to Sydney Muslim communities. There is an underlying philosophical consensus that policing which is community-oriented is most successful (Sarre, 1996; Skogan, 2006; Skogan & Hartnett, 1997). The premise is that policing with consent, and through communities, has greater reach and depth. Police are at an advantage when they procure superior intelligence sources from within an urban community and develop trusting relationships with different segments of the community (Innes, 2006). There are many ways to measure the success of crime prevention strategies. Some obvious indicators include the rates of occurrence of such crime. Other indicators can measure community confidence.