Housing officers in East Renfrewshire to be trained by police to identify terrorist threats

Police in Greater Glasgow are liaising with housing staff to check up on tenants showing signs of unaccounted for wealth, extremist behaviour or attitudes and unusual travel habits.

And officers have offered to roll the training out in East Renfrewshire, area commander Chief Inspector John McQuilter has revealed.

He told councillors housing officers would be taught how to highlight and report any issues.

“Tackling serious and organised crime remains one of our key priorities,” Mr McQuilter said. “A current threat from terrorism and domestic extremism persists and these are things we are working hard to combat.”

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A report by Chief Superintendent Brian McInulty, divisional commander for Greater Glasgow, revealed how the scheme had worked in the city.

He said:“The importance of educating housing staff, about how to identify and act upon warning signs, led to the development of a bespoke presentation by specialist Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit officers.

“Housing staff reported very positively about the input and how it gave them a much greater understanding of the role they could play in improving community safety and well-being, local and nationally.

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“They subsequently provided a significant flow of information about topics as varied as terrorism, human trafficking and financial information that officers were able to act upon.”

But Mr McInulty stressed the force wouldn’t rely on information solely from housing providers, highlighting it was a multi-agency approach.

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