Academics, policy-makers and police have gathered for a major international colloquium on religion, policing and security, coinciding with the Government's review of the Prevent strategy.
The Department of Theology & Religious Studies is hosting an international colloquium on Religion, Policing and Security, gathering participants from the worlds of policy, the academy and policing. Assistant Chief Constable John Parkinson, who led the 7/7 investigations in West Yorkshire, spoke on the past, present and future of counter-terrorism work and community engagement. Senior policy officials from central government led a discussion on Prevent and its future. Other sessions will present the findings of ground-breaking Leeds research on radicalisation and the move to violence, and on police engagement with faith communities.
Dr Al McFadyen, senior lecturer in systematic theology at Leeds and also a serving officer in West Yorkshire Police, said: "This is a unique opportunity for practitioners, policy-makers and academics to focus on an area of significant challenge to our society, and to ask what we can learn from one another. Police work with religious communities has many aspects, and is largely under-researched and under-recognised. The Prevent Review raises major questions about the relationship between neighbourhood policing and counter-terrorism work, addressed in recent Leeds research. We will also be reflecting on core terms and concepts, such as radicalisation, extremism, and religion itself"
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