| Summary: | The first people to suspect or know about someone involved in acts of violent extremism, including planned or actual involvement in overseas conflicts, will often be those closest to them: their friends, family and community insiders. They are ideally placed to play particular roles: a) to notice any changes or early warning signs that someone is considering violent action to harm others, and b) to influence and facilitate vulnerable young people to move away from violent extremist beliefs and settings. The willingness of those close to potential or suspected violent actors to come forward and share their knowledge and concerns with authorities is thus a critical element in efforts to prevent violent extremist action. However, whilst these 'intimates' have a vital role to play against potential terrorist threats and offer a first line of defence, very little is known about what reporting means for community members, including their views, experience and concerns about coming forward to authorities when they have suspicions or knowledge to report. Without an understanding of the barriers and challenges people face in sharing information or cooperating with authorities, as well as what motivates them to surmount these challenges, Government information campaigns and positive reporting messages will fail to engage fully with members of these communities who are in the strongest position to help. The first study of this kind, conducted with both Muslim communities and government stakeholders, was recently completed at Victoria University, Australia (Grossman, 2015), through government-supported academic research partnered by the Australian Federal Police. This proposal from the University of Huddersfield in partnership with Victoria University, Australia thus seeks to build on that study to gain new knowledge about the dynamics and barriers to community reporting in the UK, in order to develop new, localised and contextually sensitive understanding of and approaches to community reporting issues in the UK context. Our UK study replicates the Australian study with a significantly increased sample size. It also extends sampling to include a sub-sample of White British community respondents from marginalised communities. Furthermore, our proposed study will intentionally over-sample young people in recognition of recent American evidence (Williams et al., 2015) that they are ‘associate gatekeepers’ for young friends at risk of radicalisation. The research methodology and questions will seek to understand and assess the experiences and views of those who have shared, or who would consider sharing, concerns about ‘intimate’ others (partners, family, friends) with authorities concerning suspected involvement in extremist activity at home and/or in planning to travel abroad to take part in violent conflicts. The study will use qualitative inquiry, with semi-structured in-depth interviews for community respondents and government key informants and stakeholders. Community and state professional respondent groups will be drawn from three major UK metropolitan conurbations at the forefront of Counter-Terrorism policy efforts through the Prevent Strategy and the associated Channel scheme. Those areas are: West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester (being co-terminus Policing authorities) and Greater London (Metropolitan Police). Following the design of the successful Australian study, and given the sensitivity of the topic, in addition to semi-structured interview questions, community-based respondents will be asked to choose from one of a number of detailed hypothetical scenarios (adapted from actual cases) to ‘think through’ in responding to the questions posed by the research team. The proposed study thus stands to achieve a significant advance in understanding community members’ concerns about reporting, as well as allowing a full appreciation of state professionals’ experiences of current reporting mechanisms and processes. The first people to suspect or know about someone involved in acts of violent extremism, including planned or actual involvement in overseas conflicts, will often be those closest to them: their friends, family and community insiders. They are ideally placed to play particular roles: a) to notice any changes or early warning signs that someone is considering violent action to harm others, and b) to influence and facilitate vulnerable young people to move away from violent extremist beliefs and settings. The willingness of those close to potential or suspected violent actors to come forward and share their knowledge and concerns with authorities is thus a critical element in efforts to prevent violent extremist action. However, whilst these 'intimates' have a vital role to play against potential terrorist threats and offer a first line of defence, very little is known about what reporting means for community members, including their views, experience and concerns about coming forward to authorities when they have suspicions or knowledge to report. Without an understanding of the barriers and challenges people face in sharing information or cooperating with authorities, as well as what motivates them to surmount these challenges, Government information campaigns and positive reporting messages will fail to engage fully with members of these communities who are in the strongest position to help. The first study of this kind, conducted with both Muslim communities and government stakeholders, was recently completed at Victoria University, Australia (Grossman, 2015), through government-supported academic research partnered by the Australian Federal Police. This proposal from the University of Huddersfield in partnership with Victoria University, Australia thus seeks to build on that study to gain new knowledge about the dynamics and barriers to community reporting in the UK, in order to develop new, localised and contextually sensitive understanding of and approaches to community reporting issues in the UK context. Our UK study replicates the Australian study with a significantly increased sample size. It also extends sampling to include a sub-sample of White British community respondents from marginalised communities. Furthermore, our proposed study will intentionally over-sample young people in recognition of recent American evidence (Williams et al., 2015) that they are ‘associate gatekeepers’ for young friends at risk of radicalisation. The research methodology and questions will seek to understand and assess the experiences and views of those who have shared, or who would consider sharing, concerns about ‘intimate’ others (partners, family, friends) with authorities concerning suspected involvement in extremist activity at home and/or in planning to travel abroad to take part in violent conflicts. The study will use qualitative inquiry, with semi-structured in-depth interviews for community respondents and government key informants and stakeholders. Community and state professional respondent groups will be drawn from three major UK metropolitan conurbations at the forefront of Counter-Terrorism policy efforts through the Prevent Strategy and the associated Channel scheme. Those areas are: West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester (being co-terminus Policing authorities) and Greater London (Metropolitan Police). Following the design of the successful Australian study, and given the sensitivity of the topic, in addition to semi-structured interview questions, community-based respondents will be asked to choose from one of a number of detailed hypothetical scenarios (adapted from actual cases) to ‘think through’ in responding to the questions posed by the research team. The proposed study thus stands to achieve a significant advance in understanding community members’ concerns about reporting, as well as allowing a full appreciation of state professionals’ experiences of current reporting mechanisms and processes.
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