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Ms Smith told BBC radio that forces would receive an additional 11 million pounds over three years to fund the so-called Prevent Officers. -- PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON - POLICE are to receive funding for 300 counter-terrorism officers to help prevent the radicalisation of young people, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said on Wednesday.
The officers will work with local schools, mosques, prisons and community organisations to identify those at risk of turning to violent extremism, she said in a series of media interviews 'In the long term we cannot arrest our way out of terrorism,' she told Sky News.
'We need more investment, more effort in preventing people becoming terrorists in the first place.'
Ms Smith told BBC radio that forces would receive an additional 11 million pounds over three years to fund the so-called Prevent Officers.
'We are working alongside faith groups, particularly those Muslims who want to be able to make the mainstream argument for Islam, against those who want to make a distorted case to support terrorist attacks,' she said.
At the weekend, Smith said counter-terrorist police and security services were monitoring 22,000 individuals and 30 active plots.
Ms Smith is seeking to extend pre-charge detention of terrorism suspects to 42 days from the current 28-day limit.
But she faces a tough task steering the controversial provisions through parliament, which the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have both said they will oppose.
Some Labour backbenchers are also threatening to rebel and vote down the clause in the Counter-Terrorism Bill.
Smith said she was not picking a political fight. 'I'm interested in protecting this country from terrorism,' she said. -- REUTERS
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