What & Who discovers terrorist plots?

[davidbfpo]

Adapted from the post added to the thread on UK CT.

Ten days ago UK CT's most senior police officer started a new campaign to explain and obtain greater public support. In doing so he revealed some new figures:

....there were 500 live counter-terror investigations at any time. Information from the public has helped police in a third of the most high-risk investigations, figures show.It has also contributed to stopping some of the 13 attacks - a figure one higher than the last update, given in October.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39176110

There are two podcasts: Hostile Reconnaissance (23 mins) and Multiple Bombings (18 mins):

They tell previously untold stories of how terrorist attacks on UK soil were prevented thanks to information from the public.

Link to the campaign:https://act.campaign.gov.uk/

The campaign is based on an opinion poll and a review, as the UK police leaders group explains on their website. They are now known as the NPCC and were formerly ACPO. With my emphasis in one sentence:

The research used to shape the ACT campaign was commissioned by CT policing and carried out by an external agency. In total 2198 adults across England, Wales and Scotland were asked about attitudes towards aspects of CT policing. Key finders were:

73% of respondents said they were concerned about terrorism.
17% (top score) of respondents said the main reason for concern is that terrorism is unpredictable and can affect anyone, anywhere.
75% of respondents said police were working hard to prevent terrorism.
79% of respondents said it was not just the responsibility of the police to tackle terrorism.
83% of respondents said it was important communities work together to defeat terrorism.
29% of respondents said they might not report suspicious behaviour in case their suspicions were incorrect.
39% of respondents said they were unsure what kind of activity they should be reporting.
26% of respondents said they might not report suspicious behaviour as they wouldn't want to be seen as wasting police time.

In addition, CT Policing analysed 100 of our most high-risk current/ongoing operations. In a third of these cases we found that we had received information from the public that assisted the investigation, including new leads or corroborating facts. This has helped us build a stronger intelligence and evidence picture to enable us to confront and manage the threat posed by these suspects.

Link:http://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/...rrorist-threat

I have not seen such polling data and such a partial analysis in the public domain before. The polling data and the implications are detailed in a short paper:http://www.npcc.police.uk/ACT%20Camp...20Findings.pdf

As UK CT policing have '500 cases at any time', the overall contribution would be far lower - 6.6%.