Radicalisation

Radicalisation

This is when someone starts to believe or support extreme views, and in some cases, then participates in terrorist groups or acts. It can be motivated by a range of factors, including ideologies, religious beliefs, political beliefs and prejudices against particular groups of people.

People may be radicalised in many ways, and over different time frames from as little as a few days or hours, or it may take several years.

Anyone can be radicalised, but factors such as being easily influenced and impressionable make children and young people particularly vulnerable.

There’s a chance that your child or young person may meet people online or visit websites that could lead them to adopting extreme views or experiencing radicalisation.

Curiosity could lead your children and young people to seek out these people, or they could groom your child or young person. They could then encourage your child or young person to adopt beliefs or persuade them to join groups with extreme views and actions. The signs are like any kind of online grooming and things to look out for include:

• Becoming more secretive, especially around internet use.
• Spending increasing amounts of time communicating with friends they have met online.
• Becoming isolated from family and friends.
• Developing a fixation on a particular subject.
• Expressing intolerance or hatred of other people or communities.
• Changing appearance to reflect association with a group or cause.
• Expressing thoughts about harming or using violence towards others.

If your child or young person becomes radicalised it can endanger their safety and welfare, and the safety and welfare of those around them. By intervening early, you can ensure that they receive support to keep them safe, preventing them from further radicalisation. Back to have the conversation early, use the Diamonds.

If you suspect that someone is about to put themselves in danger by travelling to join a terrorist organisation or appears involved in plans to commit a criminal offence, please inform the police immediately by calling 999.

You can find out more about helping identify and prevent radicalisation on Safer Devon website. Or by clicking on https://www.internetmatters.org/.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) investigate cases of grooming on the Internet and sex abuse and incidents can be reported by clicking the red button on the top right hand corner of their website https://www.ceop.police.uk/ safety-centre