The Greater London Experience: Essential Lessons Learned in Law Enforcement-Community Partnerships and Terrorism Prevention

Abstract

British law enforcement is far ahead of the United States both in thinking creatively about building bridges to its Muslim communities and implementing community policing programs that produce constructive interactions between these communities and various branches of law enforcement. Because they began their efforts well before the July 7, 2005 London bombings, British law enforcement was able to see firsthand how their connections with the Muslim community, particularly in the Bradford/Leeds area of England, helped them quickly identify the bombers and develop leads that were critical to their investigation. In the wake of those bombings, British law enforcement has worked even harder to expand their community policing efforts with their Muslim communities. These efforts have proven fruitful on multiple fronts, including in August 2006, when a tip from the Muslim community helped British police thwart a terrorist plot to detonate bombs on international flights departing from London’s Heathrow Airport. In short, British law enforcement is far ahead of our own in connecting with Muslim communities, even though Muslim communities in Great Britain are significantly less prosperous and more alienated from the mainstream than Muslim communities in the United States. The premise of this paper is that we have much to learn from what they have begun.