Jacqui Smith to announce 300 extra terror police

Wednesday, 16 April 2008 12:00 AM

Home secretary Jacqui Smith will today announce an extra 300 police jobs to fight terrorism and radicalisation within communities.

Ms Smith will tell officers in London today that more needs to be done to prevent the small minority of young people being drawn into extremism.

The home secretary will announce that the new positions will involve police officers as well as civilian staff.

"We need to prevent people from becoming terrorists and supporting terrorists in the first place," Ms Smith is expected to say.

"That means challenging the sort of ideology that supports terrorism, it means working in our communities to make sure that those mainstream voices are stronger, it means identifying people who might be at risk of being drawn into terrorism and violent extremism."

Ms Smith's announcement today comes as the government attempts to extend the time suspects can be held without charge to 42 days.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have however criticised the plans for extra police staff questioning where the money will come from to fund the move.

The Tories have also alleged that the increase breaches election rules and have complained to the cabinet secretary.

They have pointed to the rule that states official Civil Service resources should not be used in an attempt to influence elections in the three weeks leading up to the polls.

Tags:
• crime
,
• domestic policy
,
• policing and crime
,
• terrorism