More and more people are contacting police hotlines about suspected terror activity, with shock figures revealing a surge of 600 per cent in tip-offs in just six months.
Calls to a dedicated police hotline have rocketed, with thousands of potential leads pouring in, in the wake of terror attacks, figures obtained by the Press Association have found.
Reports peaked in June, when the London Bridge and Finsbury Park attacks took place, with the service receiving 5,703 calls. This compared to 748 in January and 764 in February, and a monthly average over the year to June of around 1,800.
The number of calls to the hotline rose to 2,449 in March, the month of the Westminster outrage, before dipping to 1,412 in April and then increasing to 4,191 in May, when the Manchester bombing took place.
Hannah Stuart, co-head of the security and extremism unit at think tank Policy Exchange, said it was not surprising that rises in the number of calls corresponded to recent terrorist attacks.
She added: "Community-based intelligence is vital in tackling terrorism and in some cases has successfully prevented imminent attacks.
"Unprecedented numbers of individuals of concern to the security services in the UK right now means the task of identifying serious leads is a real challenge.
"In light of the recent attacks, risk assessment procedures are currently under review - and this will no doubt include the handling of calls to the anti-terrorism hotline to make sure that information reaches the right people when necessary."
Police welcomed the rise in calls with Detective Chief Superintendent Clarke Jarrett, of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, saying: "We need the public's assistance to help keep us all safe from terrorism so it really is encouraging that more calls are being made to the confidential hotline.
"Every report we receive about suspicious activity is potentially crucial information that could help keep communities safer."
The anti-terrorist hotline can be contacted to report suspicious activity or behaviour which the caller believes may be related to terrorist activity.
It is staffed around the clock by specially trained personnel, with additional resources available if there are spikes in calls. All information is assessed and analysed before a decision is made on what action, if any, is taken.
People in Burton and South Derbyshire can report suspicious activity and find out how to protect themselves by heading to https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/runhidetell and
http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/Safety-advice/Terrorism/Stay-Safe-Run-Hide-and-Tell.aspx
Stay Safe in the event of a terrorist attack abroad
Counter Terrorism police - in association with the Foreign Office and the travel trade association ABTA - have launched a new four-minute film outlining what to do if caught up in an attack.
While the chances of being involved in a terror attack remain low, holidaymakers travelling abroad this summer are being urged to watch a new video designed to help keep them safe in the event of an incident.
The key advice is:
Run - to a place of safety. This is better than trying to surrender or negotiate.
Hide - it is better to hide than confront. Barricade yourself in, turn your phone to silent and use only when it is safe to do so.
Tell - Make sure you know the local emergency numbers in the country you are travelling to. For all EU countries it is 112.
