Metropolitan Police Authority conference: ‘Together Against Terror?’ – online poll goes live. 

60/05
5 December 2005

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) will be holding a one-day conference ‘Together Against Terror?’ on Monday 12 December 2005 with the aim of widening the London and national debate on how our society should respond to the terrorist threat.

We are inviting the public to join the debate by answering ten key questions (Closing date 19 Dec 05), which will also be put to delegates on the day, published on the MPA website.

Len Duvall, Chair of the Authority, said:

“The MPA’s job is to consult with London’s communities to find out what they expect from the police. By including public participation in the policing debate this event will signal an important step change and we urge Londoners to make their views known.

“It is crucial that we involve as many people as possible in this debate. To this end we have published a poll on the MPA website which we hope will provide important input from the public about how we, together with the police, should respond to the terrorist threat. The results of the poll, which is totally anonymous, will be collated and analysed by the MPA to produce a report (with recommendations) to be presented to the Full Authority meeting on 26 January 2006. Copies of this report will be made widely available. 

“Combating terrorism is not just a police responsibility. Everyone has a role to play and an opinion that should be heard. We have invited over a hundred people to take part in an informal debate on 12 December; this is an important new departure for the Authority and we are eager to hear peoples’ views.”

Len Duvall continued:

“The MPA, together with the MPS, has been holding public discussions on issues around terrorism and community response since the atrocities of 7 July.

“The MPA hosted the ‘Communities Together’ conference on 11 July 2005 and promised ‘to keep policing issues in the public eye’. The debate was progressed at the Full Authority on 27 October when Operation Kratos was discussed in public. Next week’s conference aims to bring together work that has been undertaken since the London bombings and give new direction and impetus to our united fight against terrorism.” 

Notes to editors

1.The conference will be held at Central Westminster Hall, Storey’s Gate, Westminster SW1H 9NH on 12 December 2005, 09:00 – 17:00.

2. Issues to be discussed at the conference include:

• Terrorist threat - how real is it? 
• Lethal force - do the ends justify the means? 
• Divided we stand - which counter terrorism tactics command public support? 
• Liberty versus security - must we choose between our safety and our rights? 
• Scaremongers and sensationalists - do the media inform or alarm? 

3. The core of the programme is a series of speeches on different aspects of the debate by national and international experts. Each speech will be followed by questions from the invited audience, followed by focused group discussions.

4. The participants will be stakeholders recruited from across all of London’s communities and will include representatives from communities, academics, police officers and politicians.

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