Police and law enforcement Working Group (RAN POL)

Police forces have a crucial role to play in facilitating a preventative multi/inter-agency approach at the local or regional level. They often know the community very well and can be encouraged to optimise their engagement with it.

RAN POL seeks to identify a more effective police approach which is flexible enough to be shared among many police forces in the EU Member States. This will require peer review of police approaches that work efficiently, identifying successful training opportunities, understanding the role of social media, providing guidelines for trust-based relationships with communities and families, and, finally, optimising cooperation between specialised branches and local community police.

Videos

Case study #3: Radicalised and terrorist offenders released from prison

Many EU countries will be increasingly confronted with prisoners convicted of terrorist offences being released from prison. Although these are not the first terrorist offenders to leave prison within the EU, the current challenge is considerable due to the scale of recent extremist activities: Foreign Terrorist Fighters who left for Syria (or attempted to do so), recruitment and home-grown terrorism based on different ideologies.

Also, more acts constitute a crime due to widening anti-terrorist laws. The potential violent and extremist threat this group may pose calls for action. The return of this group to society poses another challenge. This group needs to work on their return to society.

Just as important is preparing the receiving community for their return. Without society’s acceptance and support, rehabilitation of the released prisoner will be significantly more complex.

Meet Nour, our case study.

RAN Policy & Practice (Paris): Optimising Triple P (Police, Prison & Probation)

Police, prison and probation services are known as the Triple-P. All three work in tandem when dealing with radicalised and terrorist offenders before, during and after imprisonment.

Coordination between police, prison and probation services is paramount. Especially today when Member States are dealing with an increasing number of offenders being released from prison after serving sentences for terrorism-related crimes.

There are also detainees imprisoned for non-terrorist offences who might become radicalised in prison and then released.

The RAN Policy and Practice event in Paris on 22 November 2018 focused on how to enhance cooperation frameworks within, between and beyond the triple-P organisations to deal effectively with radicalised and terrorist offenders.

Podcasts

Podcast - Meet a RAN Practitioner #8 - Antje Götz-Bungarten, Psychologist

Antje Götz-Bungarten is a Psychologist at the Bavarian Criminal State Police Office (Germany).

Antje took part in the Policy & Practice meeting ‘A mental health approach to understanding and preventing violent extremism’.

Papers

Following RAN activities and Working Group meetings, an ex-post paper highlights lessons learned, insights and follow-up initiatives.

Contact

Working Group leaders:

Marzena Koradaczuk-Was, Poland
Luc van der Taelen, Belgium

For the Working Groups contact points, please see the contacts page