Early extremism must be identified

THERESA May sensed that public patience is wearing thin when she stepped into Downing St to deliver her response to the latest terror attack.

One of the strengths of our culture is that people’s first response in the wake of an atrocity is to express sorrow and solidarity rather than look for a scapegoat.

We understand that the extremists want to poison our society with fear and suspicion, that they seek to convince us that the citizens of a multi-ethnic, multi-faith society cannot live in peace with one another. We also treasure our civil liberties and will not want such hard-won rights trampled in any knee-jerk attempt to stamp out extremism.

But millions of people will have nodded in agreement when they heard Mrs May declare that “enough is enough”.

Not just in Britain but across the world, a culture is developing in which people wonder if they are at risk of a terrorist attack when they go to a sporting event or a concert, walk along a crowded seafront or cross a famous bridge. Such fear is toxic and in its own insidious way is a restraint on liberty. There are enough anxieties running through modern Britain without families also having to worry about acts of cruel carnage.

Tough questions must be asked about the resources provided to police forces and counter-terrorism agencies. At a time when those charged with preventing criminal acts are having to deal with a host of new online threats, are officers able to keep track of potential terrorists?

Across the public services, austerity has meant that hardworking men and women have had to rise to the challenge of doing more with less. Belt-tightening can sometimes be a spur to greater efficiency and welcome innovation, but people who risk their own lives in the fight against terror deserve the best technology, training and back-up we can muster.

However, police and security forces are not the only people on the frontline of this battle who have a crucial role to perform.

The people who are best-positioned to spot early signs of radicalisation, identify extremists and report evidence of conspiracies are the parents, siblings, colleagues, schoolmates and neighbours of those who are being tugged along a very dangerous path.

A murderous madness has poisoned minds and spurred slaughter in places as far apart as San Bernardino, Kabul, New York, Baghdad, London, Istanbul, Brussels, Moscow, Mombasa, Paris, Beslan and Berlin. This virus of extremism has broken out in different time zones and brought grief and injury to families in radically different cultures.

Such terrorism is not war against the West but against anyone who stands against this lethal lunacy. To watch such ideological infection take root and not sound the alarm will do nothing to protect our communities from individuals who could be on a path to destruction; we all have a duty to speak up.

We must build bonds of trust in our communities that will hold back hatred and defend our values. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2014 was 78.5%