Counter-Terrorism Community Engagement

Pitfalls and Opportunities

Jason Hartley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000378580
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Terrorism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book offers insights into the building of trust in Muslim communities through community engagement in a climate of counter-terrorism.

Police engagement with Muslim communities is complex with a history of distrust. This book first attempts to understand the role and implications of uncertainty on community engagement in Muslim communities, and then explores the cultural nuances associated with the demonstration of trustworthiness, and decisions to bestow trust. It further highlights the complexities and implications for Muslim leaders when trying to simultaneously engage police and appease their own communities; the book exposes community perceptions of an over-reaction by authorities that has moved suspicion from a handful of terrorists to the entire Muslim community, resulting in problematic community perceptions that Muslim communities are being targeted by police. The findings suggest that the intentionality of police is a highly significant consideration in trust negotiations, and reveals a number of cultural preferences considered critical to trust negotiations. The book further highlights opportunities to enhance the development of trust and avoid pitfalls that can be problematic to community engagement. The lessons learned seek to enhance the existing body of literature regarding strategies and resources to improve counter-terrorism community engagement with Muslim communities.

This book will be of much interest to students of counter-terrorism, preventing violent extremism, deradicalization, and security studies.

1 Introduction

This book seeks to make a contribution to help improve the capacity of police and associatedpartners when engaging Muslim communities in a climate of counter-terrorism that is often characterised by high emotions and distrust. In its simple form, it seeks to expose both pitfalls and opportunities to enhance community engagement by focusing on the deeper dynamics of the “who, what, when, how, and why” to improve trust relations with Muslim communities, which aims to improve partnership and problem solving. In this fashion, this book advocates that successful community engagement in view of current challenges requires a victory of Muslim hearts and minds which cannot be achieved until there is more genuine effort to understand Muslim hearts andminds. Such comment doesn’t intend to overlook other forms of extremism nor single out Muslim communities, but rather highlight the salience of this topic in view of current challenges.

The events of 11 September 2001 (9/11) caused unprecedented social and political upheaval, with widespread recognition that “the new war on terror” would be the greatest challenge of the 21st century (Burnett & Whyte, 2005; McCulloch & Pickering, 2010; Mythen, Walklate, & Khan, 2013; Pantazis & Pemberton, 2009; Spalek, 2010). Coercive counter-terrorism strategies throughout the world quickly emerged as the primary basis for policing terrorism. In Australia, the counter-terrorism response involved a period of “hyper legislation” unmatched by any other country (Spalek & Lambert, 2008), resulting in claims by Muslim communities that they had been unfairly singled out through indiscriminate counter-terrorism policing (Murphy, Cherney, & Barkworth, 2015; Mythen et al., 2013; Spalek, 2013; Spalek & Lambert, 2008; Walklate, Mythen,& McGarry, 2011). This resulted in a climate of hostility toward Muslim minority communities that included media stereotyping (Whitaker, 2002), a rise in Islamophobic attitudes (Allen, 2012; Meer, Dwyer, & Modood, 2010; Poynting & Mason, 2007), racially motivated violence (Allen & Nielsen, 2002; Frost, 2008), and Muslims being labelled with a “suspect community” status (Pickering, McCulloch, & Wright-Neville, 2008).

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair stated: “It is the communities that defeat terrorism, not the police” (Husband & Alam, 2011), serving to highlight the paramount importance of community engagement through a “hearts and mind” approach (Beutel, 2015; Birt, 2009; Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), 2007; Innes, 2006; Pickering et al., 2008; Spalek, 2010; Thacher, 2005; Vermeulen, 2014; Vermeulen & Bovenkerk, 2012). Yet, the literature exposes numerous clear examples of counter-terrorism responses alienating the very communities that are a key line of defence against terrorist propaganda and recruitment (English, 2010; Klausen, 2009; LaFree & Dugan, 2009; Murphy et al., 2015; Parmar, 2011; Pickering et al., 2008; Saggar, 2009). As such, there is an ongoing concern that counter-terrorism engagement strategies continue to undermine the perceived legitimacy of authorities to deal with counter-terrorism (Allen, 2012; LaFree & Dugan, 2009; Meer et al., 2010; Poynting & Mason, 2007; Spalek, 2010). One example includes a recognition that intelligence gathering relies on community trust as a critical mechanism to prevent a terrorist incident. However, the police risk losing credibility if Muslim communities perceive community policing as little more than an apparatus to gather intelligence (Birt, 2009; Currier, 2015; Kundnani, 2014; Lambert, 2011; O’Toole, Meer, De Hanas, Jones, & Moodood, 2016; Richards, 2012; Spalek & O’Rawe, 2014).

Spalek (2013) suggests that the counter-terrorism context easily generates resentment and distrust between police and Muslims given the high level of emotionality and its negative impact on Muslim communities (Spalek & O’Rawe, 2014). This sentiment is supported by an array of scholars pointing out that over-policing has eroded trust between the police and Muslim communities, leaving communities feeling stigmatised and upset (Bowling & Phillips, 2007; Jefferson, Walker, & Seneviratne, 1992; Jones & Newburn, 2001; Sivanandan, 1981; Smith & Gray, 1985; Thacher, 2005; Sharp & Atherton, 2007). The result is a counter-terrorism landscape that is often characterised as socially and culturally complex, with high emotionality through strained community relationships with police (Cherney & Hartley, 2015; Dixon & Maher, 2002; Lambert, 2011; McCulloch & Pickering, 2008; New South Wales Parliament Legislative Council (NSWPLC), 2001; Pickering et al., 2008; Spalek, 2013; Spalek, El Awa, McDonald, & Lambert, 2008; Thacher, 2005).

The application of stop and search powers by police (Spalek, 2013) and the blanket surveillance of Muslim communities (Walklate et al., 2011) has raised concerns that Muslim communities are unfairly singled out by indiscriminate counter-terrorism policing. Police raids of Muslim homes (Mythen et al., 2013), informal questioning of Muslims, and the cancelling of passports preventing Muslims from travelling overseas (Murphy et al., 2015) has further bolstered claims by Muslim communities that they are under siege (Blackwood, Hopkins, & Reicher, 2013; Cherney & Murphy, 2015; Kundnani, 2014). In short, over-policing has left Muslim communities feeling targeted and upset (Bowling & Phillips, 2007; Cherney & Hartley, 2015; Cherney & Murphy, 2015; Jones & Newburn, 2001; Sharp & Atherton, 2007; Waddington, Stenson, & Don, 2004). In this vein, Shami Chakrabarti, the founder of Liberty (in Mythen et al. 2013, p. 11) described Prevent, the UK’s counter-radicalisation program, as “the biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times and an affront to civil liberties.” As such, Prevent has been widely branded in Muslim communities as a toxic brand, resulting in the disengagement and withdrawal of Muslim leaders to the extent that association by leaders carries the potential to challenge their leadership legitimacy and influence within their own communities.

This means that police efforts to engage Muslim communities within the context of counter-terrorism is built upon a precarious and unstable foundation (Cherney & Hartley, 2015). These dynamics expose difficulties to secure trust and the voluntary cooperation of ethnic minority groups (Cherney & Chui, 2010), making counter-terrorism community engagement highly controversial and difficult to sustain (Cherney & Hartley, 2015; Lambert, 2011; Pickering et al., 2008, Spalek, 2013, Spalek et al. 2008; Thacher, 2005). Not surprisingly, there is clear evidence in Australia that ethnic minority groups have particularly problematic and poor relationships with police (Dixon & Maher, 2002; NSWPLC, 2001; Pickering et al., 2008).

Govier (1998) suggests that efforts by authorities to control communities are an expression of distrust while Darley (2004) and Tyler (2006) state that it is difficult, if not impossible, to effectively control citizens based on legislation and/or use of power. Alderson and Goodey (1998) bolster this point by suggesting that a police department with solid public support will be more effective than a more powerful police department lacking public support in the absence of community trust.

Jensen (2006) observed that in Muslim communities, building trust has to be at the forefront of best practice. Spalek (2010) advocates that the success or failure of community-based counterterrorism will depend on the extent to which trusting relationships are built between police officers and communities. In this light, the literature on counter-terrorism community engagement consistently refers to the critical importance of trust as the foundation of progress (Briggs, 2010; Hillyard, 1993, 2005). Yet, despite widespread recognition concerning the paramount importance of trust, Spalek (2013) elaborates that little is known about how authorities within a “new terrorism” context go about building trust, or whether the building of a deeper robust trust in this context is even possible. Spalek (2010) points out that an absence of research and literature on the deeper dynamics of trust only serves to undermine its critical importance as the basis of community engagement. Spalek (2010) further expresses her concerns that the window of opportunity is narrowing in the midst of emerging challenges.

The genuine fear is the continued alienation of the very communities who are also considered the key line of defence against terrorist propaganda and recruitment (English, 2010; Klausen, 2009; LaFree, & Dugan, 2009; Murphy et al., 2015; Parmar, 2011; Peek, 2011; Pickering et al., 2008). As such, the problem is that counter-terrorism community engagement strategies that fail to integrate unique community dynamics, including cultural nuances, stand to jeopardise sustainable relationships with Muslim communities. In this vein, this book seeks to address a shortfall in the literature by examining the factors that facilitate, erode, build, and maintain trust between authorities and Muslim communities in the context of counter-terrorism community engagement.

The author’s background

The only mosque in the world destroyed in backlash to the traumatic events of 9/11 was in Queensland, Australia. As a serving police officer at the time, the author was appointed to the team of police charged to investigate the arson and subsequently tasked with the role of State Islamic Liaison Coordinator for the Queensland Police. Despite this position being portrayed as a liaison role with Muslim communities, the author was based in the State Crime Operations Command, which was effectively 600 specialised detectives with little or no community focus. Not surprisingly, the author’s responsibilities not only included liaison but also intelligence gathering on Muslim communities. It was a time recognised by the author as one of fear and distrust on the part of Muslims concerning the deeper motivations of police. In more recent years and as part of the research for this book, and despite having resigned from the police, a few mosque attendees still aware of the author’s background responded to gatekeepers that there remained a good chance that the author was a spy and could not be trusted.

In a climate of counter-terrorism characterised by resentment to state terrorism responses, effective research requires the dispelling of fear through the building of trust to ensure “the free flow of information” (Spradley, 1979, p. 78). Most rapport-building literature suggests that this occurs through social interaction (Sztompka, 1999) and reciprocal interaction (Rashid, 2007; Umaña‐Taylor & Bámaca, 2004) while demonstrating respect and empathy (Elliott, Watson, & Harries, 2002; Liamputtong, 2006). On the author’s part, this required proactive involvement through a concerted decision to attend community activities to informally chat/connect with community members as the basis of empathy where the intended result was trust and rapport.

There is an Arabic saying that states “a friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself” (الصدیق ھو الشخص الذي یمنحك الحریه الكامله ان تكون نفسك).¹ In this vein, a concerted effort on the part of the author was made to enjoy meals together, which created a comfortable and open environment for safe and honest discussion where participants could be themselves. In this regard, if time and commitments permitted, the author never turned down an invitation to events that included iftar dinners or social gatherings at mosques that would routinely enhance understanding and knowledge to mature thoughts and perspectives.

The author attended dozens of community meetings and initiated two community service projects that required “getting hands dirty” through building fences, constructing a garage, and planting trees at two Islamic Schoo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The impact of uncertainty
• 3 Cultural notions of trust
• 4 Muslim leadership and counter-terrorism
• 5 Discussion, context, and implications
• 6 Conclusion
• Appendix: Prevent and Muslim trust
• Index