Police can't keep public safe as extremism soars - 'cannot cope' says top cop

Police are overwhelmed with soaring reports of extremism but lack the resources or legal powers to keep the public safe. Authorities "cannot cope" with the record number of reports to the Government's official anti-terror scheme, senior officers warn. But they also highlighted a "gap" in current legislation, which gives police tough powers to fight terrorism but not to combat other "extremist" material that encourages violence.

The warnings were issued by Laurence Taylor, Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, and Paul Giannasi, Hate Crime Policy Lead at the National Police Chiefs' Council. Home Office figures last week showed 8,517 people in the 12 months to March 2025 were referred to the Prevent Programme, which targets people believed to be at risk of becoming terrorists. This is the highest figure recorded, but Mr Taylor said: "We are projecting more than 10,000 referrals this year. That is just into Prevent, which is one part of the system, and that part of the system cannot cope with that volume of referrals."

He added: "The system is not built to deal with this volume of demand."

And Mr Taylor has warned MPs that "really clear" legislation outlawing the promotion of terrorism only covered activities that involved an ideology or attempt to influence government. By contrast, police had very limited powers to deal with "extremist" material that might endorse violence but did fit the definition of terrorism.

He said: "There is a gap in legislation and everything else to deal with extremism. That makes it very difficult for law enforcement, because we do not have the powers and levers to deal with that central space."

Giving an example, he highlighted a video game based on a 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, where Muslims were targeted and 51 people were killed. Mr Taylor said: "We have seen sites where the attack in Christchurch is now a game and you can go and commit the 51 murders online. That is not an illegal thing to do. Children are playing those games and that is creating a mindset."

He added: "There is nothing that allows us to intervene, from a legal perspective, in that extremist space, unless it becomes a hate crime or it tips a very high threshold into terrorism."

There had been a huge increase in the amount of extremist material online reported to the police, he said, with the number on course to reach 40,000 each year.

But anti-terror police were often forced to refer incidents to other organisations such as local forces, schools or councils, which are not equipped to deal with the problem.

Mr Taylor said: "They are cases where we have said, 'this is not a terrorist threat; we do not believe this person is vulnerable to terrorism. But we do believe there are interventions needed.' My concern at the moment is that the system is unable to fulfil that demand."

Mr Giannasi told the Commons Home Affairs Committee that foreign countries were deliberately distributing extremist material to "destabilise" the UK. He highlighted "foreign state bad actors, or foreign country bad actors, whether they are state or ideologically driven, who are trying to divide and destabilise our communities by, for instance, circulating historical photographs of acid attacks and claiming they are new attacks, and calling for people to take to the streets to defend their community, building on genuine fear to try to promote a breakdown of society."

It was not practical to prevent people using the Internet entirely but legislation could restrict people's access, he said.

"There are still things that could be done, such as controlling people's actions by not having an anonymous persona on social media, not being on certain platforms or not carrying out certain behaviour. Having that as part of a criminal justice response might be a useful tool to have."

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: "We must direct people away from the dangerous path of radicalisation - whether it be Islamist ideology, Extreme Right-Wing or those seeking mass violence.

"Prevent has diverted 6,000 people away from violent ideologies, stopping terrorists, keeping our streets and country safe."

The Home Office says police have a range of tools to counter the activities of extremists, including Counter-Terrorism, hate crime, public order and wider public safety legislation.

The government also has powers to disrupt the activity of extremist groups and individuals, even if they are not breaking the law. For example, it can refuse visa applications for people whose entry to the UK is deemed non-conducive to the public good.

Online game services that allow players to interact with each other or to share user generated content are required to comply with duties in the Online Safety Act to keep their users safe from illegal content and from content that is harmful to children.

In October, 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie was shot dead after he launched a knife attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, while wearing what appeared to be a suicide belt.

Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed.

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years for the murders in 2024 of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine. He was also convicted of 10 counts of attempted murder, one of producing the biological toxin ricin and one of possession of an Al Qaeda training manual, an offence under the Terrorism Act.