Top UK counter-terror cop calls on public to help prevent attacks

Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism police officer appeals to the public Monday to help prevent future attacks, urging people to call a confidential anti-terror hotline if they see anything suspicious in their community.

Mark Rowley writes in a National Police Chiefs Council blog that cooperation between the police and the public is Britain’s “greatest advantage.”

“It has often been said that ‘communities defeat terrorism’ and now that’s more important than ever before,” he says.

The comments mark the second time in as many days that senior police officers have warned the public to be vigilant. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe warned Sunday that an attack in Britain was a case of “when, not if.”

Rowley says that 3,600 contributions — or tips — from the public take place daily and that gun laws and a close working relationship between the police and security services have helped prevent attacks.

— AP